Viewed Through a Broken Mirror
by AliceinChaos
Summary: AU/Hannily A completely new history of Rosewood. Set during the Liars' first year of college, Hanna & Emily share a dorm room at NYU, Spencer falls for the attractive landscaper of the Gamma Zeta Chi house at Yale, and Mona learns of a disturbing family connection between herself and Ali. Alternate details behind Ali's disappearance are revealed.
1. Hannily at NYU

a/n This is an AU with many similarities to the show, but relationships are arranged differently. Hannily-focused but will include Spencer, Aria, Paige and Mona along with Caleb, Toby, Jason D and Melissa H.

On a bright, sunny, Saturday afternoon Hanna Marin laid back on her springy cot in 723 Goddard Hall awaiting the arrival of her roommate. It was move-in weekend at NYU and she had butterflies in her stomach thinking about her first year of college. Leaving Rosewood had been bittersweet. Despite all the tormenting she'd endured throughout high school, Hanna learned to appreciate her close-knit community. Now she felt sort of in limbo in this vibrant, yet nameless city.

A loud knock on the door brought Hanna from her thoughts and before she could get to the door to open it, her new roommate was already in the room. After dropping her duffle bag and pillow, the beautiful, olive-skinned brunette wrapped the blonde tightly in her arms and gently kissed her cheek. "Hey, Beautiful," she whispered. Hanna turned her head to face the girl and reciprocated with a lingering kiss on her soft lips. "Hey you," she replied softly, before noticing a woman standing in the doorway behind her with an armload of grocery bags.

"Hi Mrs. Fields!" Hanna exclaimed excitedly, as she ran over and gave her girlfriend's mom a quick hug and took the grocery bags out of her hands. "Wow, what's all this?"

Hanna found two foil bags of Dunkin' Donuts coffee – vanilla and hazelnut, a quart of milk, a box of Cheerios and some microwave popcorn amidst shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and a loofa.

"It's nothing much," Pam replied with a weak smile, attempting to hide the evidence of crying in her red eyes. "Just a 'welcome-to-college' care package. I know how much you love Dunkin' coffee and Em can't live without Cheerios. Let's go down and get the rest of Emily's things, it may take a few trips."

Emily certainly packed heavily but with three people and a wheelie cart from the RA, it only took one trip to bring everything up to their 7th-floor dorm room. After they brought everything up to the room and unloaded the cart, Pam pulled the girls into a group hug and started crying. "I'm going to miss you girls so much," she managed to say between sobs.

Emily sighed, as this was the about the eighth outburst of tears just today. "It'll be ok mom, we're just a phone call away and we can video chat every weekend. " Wayne was currently deployed in Afghanistan, so Emily knew it would be especially hard for her mother to cope without her around either. She wished her mother would get a dog or something.

"My mom is still in the city for some bank function," Hanna offered. "She told me to tell you that you should stop and have a drink with her. She even has an extra bed in her hotel room if you want to stay the night. It'd be good for you to take some time to yourself and let loose with a friend. My mom could certainly use the company as well, she's probably still crying." Hanna chuckled nervously. She wouldn't admit it, but Hanna was actually quite scared.

"Thanks, Hanna," Pam replied. "I guess it would be ok to stop by for just one drink with your mom, to commiserate about dropping our baby girls off at college."

With that, Pam gave both girls a hug and kiss on the cheek, and managed to say goodbye with merely a hint of a sniffle, which was a big victory since both girls were expecting Niagara Falls again. Standing in the doorway waving goodbye to Pam, Hanna rubbed Emily's back gently as the brunette started sniffling as well. Nerves were running high for everyone that day. Pam stepped into the elevator, turned and gave one last wave before the doors closed. Emily let out another sigh as the girls retreated into their dorm and closed the door.

* * *

Hanna and Emily turned to face each other and the tears that had begun welling in Emily's eyes receded as she observed the look of joy in her new roommate's face. "I can't believe we're here!" Hanna squealed excitedly. Emily pulled the blond girl in for another hug and laid a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I love you Hanna," Emily whispered as she held Hanna for what felt like an eternity. No matter what was happening, the imminent apocalypse even, as long as Emily held Hanna things would be okay. Hanna was Emily's comfort animal.

The girls broke apart and began discussing how to set up the room. They considered pushing the beds together, but weren't too sure of the cultural climate and didn't want to become social pariahs before they had a chance to make friends. Instead the beds were arranged at a 90 degree angle with their pillow ends next to each other.

After the beds were made, clothes put into dressers, coffee pot and alarm clock set up, the new roommates had about 90 minutes before the move-in social all first-year students were encouraged to attend. Emily put her iPod onto the iPod dock with decent audio quality and played their summer mix. Though the girls were moved into their college dorm and set to start class in two days, the calendar still said August so technically it was summer. In the next few days the pair would put together a fall playlist to enjoy during the autumn months.

Emily laid back on her bed holding her left arm out as an invitation for Hanna to lay down next to her. The twin-sized bed didn't leave much room for space between the girls but neither minded as Hanna laid her head gently on Emily's left shoulder. Hanna always rested on the brunette's left side as pain in her right shoulder still flared up occasionally, pain which resulted from a swimming injury that caused her to lose her swimming scholarship. Hanna felt bad about being happy Emily didn't go to Stanford on a swimming scholarship. She knew her girlfriend lived to swim but it would have been difficult to maintain a relationship while living on different coasts, 3 time zones apart.

Deep down Emily also knew the injury was a blessing in disguise. Paige McCullers had landed a swimming scholarship at Stanford as well, and the tension between the two swimmers was unbearable. Emily moved to Rosewood at the beginning of 10th grade when her dad got reassigned to a base near Philadelphia, the year after she won the state championship for freestyle swimming in Texas. The Rosewood swim coach was completely enamored by Emily, who replaced Paige as the star of the team. Then there was the awkward sexual tension when Emily spurned Paige's advances.

Hanna listened to the music, relaxing into her girlfriend's toned body. Reaching her left hand from Emily's hip to around her back, Hanna pulled Emily onto her side. Hanna caught her girlfriend's eyes and gazed deeply into the chocolate brown orbs. Emily pulled Hanna in, pulling the blonde's body into hers, and she could hear the girl's breath start to quicken. Hanna moved her left hand up the swimmer's back and pulled her head in, covering Emily's lips with her own. Emily moaned softly and ran her tongue along Hanna's bottom lip. Hanna opened her mouth to allow Emily's tongue access, and gently caressed the girl's tongue with hers. Hanna and Emily got lost in the moment, as if the world stopped turning and time ceased to exist.

Emily whimpered as Hanna broke the kiss when the music stopped. They looked at the square red numbers of Hanna's digital alarm clock and realized the freshman social started about 15 minutes ago. "Looks like we'll get there right on time," Emily said jokingly. After being raised in a military household Emily was punctual to a fault. Her dad always said "If you're on time, your late," to which Hanna replied with "If you're on time, you're 20 minutes early." The girls found a way to compromise, when attending the Fields functions they were on time, but for Marin functions they strolled in about 10 minutes late.

Hanna threw on her strappy leather wedge sandals and Emily stepped into her purple and grey flip-flops before the girls stepped into the elevator. After quickly crossing W 4th street, they walked into the welcome center and followed signs to the freshman reception area. The pair was greeted by a roomful of awkward 18 year olds holding plates of pizza and red solo cups of soda.

A tall, thin woman with dark hair and a red blazer adorned with the name tag KAREN, RD greeted them at the door. "Hi Girls, welcome to NYU," then pointed towards the table behind her that had piles of blank sticker name tags and a few red Sharpies. "Grab a sticker, write your name and hometown on it, and then go mingle with the others. In the front of the room there's pizza and beverages, and in a few minutes the Ras are going to introduce themselves and go over some dorm rules and 'good neighbor guidelines'."

Branded with name tags, Emily and Hanna made their way to the pizza & soda table. Being fashionably late there was only plain cheese pizza and root beer left. They each grabbed a soda and one large piece of pizza and found one of the few nearly-empty tables in the room. Emily placed her plate on the table before pulling a chair out for Hanna. "You're so chivalrous," Hanna stated shaking her head. There were a few other guys sitting across the table lost in conversation amongst themselves about some upcoming football season.

"What can I say, I was raised in a military household," Emily grinned coyly, shrugging her shoulders.

When the guys noticed the girls sitting across the table they immediately turned on their teenage-hormone charm. "What are you two pretty ladies doing all by yourselves," the guy in the Knicks cap asked. His name tag said TYLER, from DUCHESS COUNTY.

"Oh, we just got here and haven't had a chance to meet too many people yet," Hanna said, subtly winking at Emily. "I'm Hanna," she said, extending her hand to Tyler and his companions Luke and Cooper.

"Emily," the brunette said with a terse smile, begrudgingly shaking their clammy hands. She didn't like the way the creepy Knicks fan was eyeing her girlfriend.

"Where is Rosewood?" Luke asked. Luke was a Mets fan, according to his headgear.

"Outside of Philly," Hanna replied. "Where's Duchess County?" Luke and Tyler were both from Duchess County. Cooper's tag said he was from New Haven.

"It's upstate, about 2 hours on the MetroNorth," Luke replied vaguely.

"New Haven is in Connecticut," Cooper offered, unsolicited.

"We've heard of New Haven," Hanna replied, sounding haughtier than she meant to. "Our friend Spencer goes to Yale. She's a real brainiac."

Just then KAREN tapped a microphone from her place as doorkeeper to get everyone's attention. "Good evening everybody. I'd like to take a minute to welcome you to New York University, introduce you to your resident advisors and talk a bit about the rules and guidelines of the residential halls here." Karen motioned for a dark-haired guy with a boyish face to come to the microphone. "The first RA, for Goddard Hall, is Wesley Fitzgerald."

Wes grabbed the microphone and introduced himself briefly. "Hey, I'm Wes, a senior in business management. I'm in room 201 Goddard Hall, right outside the north elevator. If you haven't noticed yet, the male floors are even numbered and the women live on odd-numbered floors. Don't hesitate to stop by if you need anything. If I'm not there you can stick a note on the corkboard to the left of my door." Wes spoke real quick, like he was trying to win some imaginary rap battle in the Bronx, while wearing brown corduroy pants with a snug black button-up shirt and a red bow tie.

Next was a girl with long red hair, pale skin and a spattering of freckles across her nose. Hanna thought she was adorable. "Hi everyone, I'm Kelly O'Rourke, and I live in 521 Goddard Hall, which is right outside the south elevator. If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to stop by, night or day." Kelly spoke with a genuine, slightly devilish, smile.

A few other RAs from different dorms talked before finally Karen returned to the mic to go over some rules, guidelines and suggestions. Always flush the toilet, keep public spaces clean, don't leave food out in your rooms, don't whiz on the electric fence, yadda, yadda, yadda. By the time all the RAs of the dorms introduced themselves, most of the students had mentally checked out so most of what Karen was saying sounded like gibberish. It was now 7:45 on a Saturday night and this nonsense was cutting in on their social time; forced mingling did not count as a "social" activity.

* * *

Hanna and Emily ducked out of the room before the guys at their table could follow them. "Where should we go?" Hanna asked. "I don't really feel like sitting in our room all night but I don't know where anything is around here."

"Well there's only one way to fix that," Emily replied, visibly more relaxed since leaving the freshman social. "Let's just walk around." They turned and headed north towards Greenwich Village.

Emily reached out for Hanna's hand and the blond turned to give her girlfriend a sweet smile. "This is going to be the best year ever," Hanna stated. She could hardly believe that just 12 hours ago she was in Rosewood packing up her mom's car to move to New York City and live with her girlfriend. Of course there was the college thing too, but it was Saturday night and that kind of responsible thinking would have to wait.

They were just halfway down the block when Emily turned to Hanna and said, "Isn't that – "

"Mona!?" Hanna exclaimed. The shorter brunette looked up from her intense conversation to acknowledge Hanna and her girlfriend.

"Oh, uhm, hey Han," she stuttered, then nodded at the other girl, "Emily." Standing next to Mona was a guy with shaggy dark hair and a blue pac man t-shirt. "You guys know Caleb?"

"Uhm, vaguely," Hanna stated. "I think we were in biology with Jurkowski together?" to which Caleb nodded in agreement. "What are you doing in New York?" Hanna finished.

"Right now we're just out for a stroll around the Village, I'm showing Caleb around," Mona said. "I've been at NYU since the beginning of second summer session, mid-July, and Caleb just moved here this weekend."

"I got a job doing cyber security for the City. They've been having hacking issues, and I was in the right place at the right time to get the offer, so here I am," Caleb said with a shrug. "I heard you guys are enrolled at NYU as well?"

"Yeah, we live in Goddard Hall," Emily pointed over her shoulder to indicate the building they lived in. They were barely a block away from their residence hall and somehow, in all of Manhattan, they had managed to run into two people from their high school.

"Me too!" gushed Mona. "We should hang out sometime. I'm in room 324."

"723," Emily stated dryly, unimpressed and rather annoyed with Mona's excitement. "With Hanna." Hanna nodded in agreement.

"Lucky for you," Mona said. "I had an awful roommate for the summer session and I've barely spoken to the new girl who just moved in. I think her name's Carmen something, seems stuck up, which is common around here. Don't trust anyone."

Hanna and Emily nodded awkwardly in agreement, said polite goodbyes to Mona and Caleb, and parted ways. "Wow, that was weird," Hanna spoke first.

Emily shook her head in surprise, almost disbelieving what she saw. Mona was BFFs with Emily's swim team nemesis Paige McCullers, and certainly not someone she wanted to see mere hours after moving into the city. "Did you know Mona was going to be here, Han?" Emily asked.

"Not for sure. Last I heard she was deciding between NYU, UPenn or Georgetown. I guess she chose NYU," Hanna replied. "Is everything OK, Em?"

"Yeah, I don't know, I guess I'm just more nervous about college than I thought. The city didn't seem quite as large when we had a campus visit, and those guys were hitting on you hardcore back in there, and now the first thing we see is Mona Vanderwaal. And what's the deal with that guy Caleb?" Emily spoke more quickly than hot-shot Wes in his RA introduction, which led Hanna to believe things were _definitely_ _not_ OK.

Hanna stopped and turned to face her girlfriend. The blond rubbed Emily's shoulders briskly and brought her in for a hug. Hanna could tell Emily was anxious by how tense her back and shoulder muscles were, but after a few seconds Hanna felt Emily relax. Hanna kissed the brooding brunette's forehead, looked her in the eye and told her it would be OK.

* * *

It was nearly 12:30 when Hanna and Emily returned to Goddard Hall. The pair stepped onto the elevator, and before it reached the 7th floor Emily immediately tensed up when they were joined by the three goons from earlier – Tyler, Ed and Cooper – reeking of weed and in various stages of intoxication. Of course they were going to the 7th floor as well.

When they left the elevator, Emily and Hanna took the long way, around the entire 7th floor, to their room in hopes of losing their riding mates. Luckily the guys didn't have to travel far from the elevator to arrive at their destination, and they'd all lost interest in Emily and Hanna when they refused to shotgun beers in the elevator. Upon arrival to room 723, Hanna unlocked and held the door open for Emily. "Look who's being chivalrous now," Emily raised her eye brows and remarked with a smirk. The walk around the city had done a world of good to uplift Emily's sour mood.

Hanna turned on the light as she closed the door behind them, and was quickly reminded of how barren their dorm was. Despite how tired she felt Hanna couldn't help but imagine how the two might make the tiny dorm room their own…maybe some bean bag chairs, plush throw rugs and some cute lamps. Hanna opened her eyes to see Emily gazing at her with a smile. "Thinking of how we can decorate already?" she asked. Emily knew Hanna like the back of her hand.

Hanna smiled and nodded as she stepped towards her girlfriend and wrapped the brunette in her arms. "I want it to be perfect. We must always remember our first place together," Hanna whispered softly in Emily's ear, causing the hair on the back of Emily's neck to stand at attention.

"As long as you're here, this place will always be perfect," Emily purred as she began to plant soft kisses along Hanna's jawline. Hanna closed her eyes and tilted her head back to give Emily unfettered access, as she tangled her hands in the brunette's hair, massaging her scalp. Hanna's desire for the olive-skinned beauty in her arms grew exponentially as Emily began kissing down Hanna's neck to her collar bone. With her hands firmly on Hanna's hips, Emily guided her girlfriend backwards towards the blonde's cot. As the bed hit the back of her knees, Hanna felt into a seated position and Emily climbed on top, straddling her. Hanna's hands fell to Emily's waist then began exploring the swimmer's toned body underneath her shirt, as Emily began kissing Hanna's mouth in a frenzy of passion. In one swift movement Emily removed Hanna's shirt then lifted her arms for Hanna to return the favor. They quickly removed their bras and went back to kissing and caressing each other.

Emily's short shorts had ridden up to the level of her panties and Hanna couldn't resist teasing her by slowly raking her fingers up and down the crevice between Emily's toned thighs and core. Emily's kissing grew rough and frenzied as her girlfriend caused heat to emanate and wetness to pool from her core. Soon Emily was moaning incoherently, and unable to hold steady enough to continue kissing Hanna she rolled onto her side on the bed. Hanna took the opportunity to remove the bucking brunettes shorts and panties. Holding Emily's arms out flat on the bed, Hanna lowered her head to plant soft kisses around Emily's navel. Emily could barely hold herself together and began to beg for relief as Hanna's kisses migrated slowly south. Emily did not often let her guard down, but Hanna knew just how to push the buttons; Emily was putty in Hanna's hands. After letting go of Emily's hands, Hanna brought her own right hand down to feel the wetness emanating from Emily's core. Reveling in the heat between her girlfriend's legs, Hanna enjoyed a slow journey with her tongue to find Emily's clit. Rolling her tongue around the bundle of nerves, Hanna slowly inserted her middle finger into Emily, curling it towards the swimmer's abdomen to hit her G-spot. Despite Emily's pleas to speed up, Hanna enjoyed making her squirm. The blonde held out for as long as she could, then plunged Emily over the edge to orgasmic ecstasy.

After letting Emily ride out the waves of her orgasm, Hanna crawled to the top of the bed to kiss her girlfriend. "Oh my god Han, that was amazing," Emily spoke breathlessly as she wrapped Hanna in a tight embrace, savoring how well the blonde fit in Emily's arms. After a moment of reprieve Emily lifted her head and captured Hanna's lips in hers. The brunette's hands made their way to Hanna's hips, then up her sides and back over her creamy skin until they reached her perfectly-shaped breasts. Emily broke the kiss and tuned her attention more fully to Hanna's breasts, pushing them together and nuzzling her face in between until she found the blonde's left nipple with her lips and gently nibbled while using her left hand to tweak Hanna's right nipple. "Em! Oh my god!" Hanna moaned loudly, as Emily enjoyed the reaction she had come to love. After a few minutes of teasing, Hanna sat up and rolled Emily onto her back before straddling the swimmer's immaculate body. After leaning in to offer Emily a sexy kiss, Hanna planted her arms on either side of Emily's head and arched her back, grinding her center into Emily's. The blonde beauty on top of Emily leaned her head back as she moaned, straightening her back as she began massaging her own breasts and gyrating against the goddess beneath her. Emily took in the sight before her – Hanna was beyond beautiful, especially when she got lost in her own sexuality. Emily moved her hands to Hanna's hips and pulled the blonde further into her before slipping her finger in to bring her over the edge. Hanna collapsed on Emily, still moaning and breathing heavily. The pair stayed like that for a few minutes, Hanna catching her breath on top of Emily before turning onto her side next to the swimmer and slowly drifting off to sleep.

"Goodnight Sweetheart," Emily whispered as she kissed Hanna softly on the cheek.

a/n Writing fiction is not my strength, but I'm working to improve. I'm also using this story to set up the Universe I hope to use as a backdrop to explore other non-traditional 'ships. Let me know what you think!


	2. Video Chat with Spencer

Around 8 am Emily was awakened by the glaring early morning sun shining through their window in the southeast corner of Goddard Hall. She got out of bed, moving carefully so as to not wake the naked sleeping beauty beside her, and threw on a T-shirt and shorts. Emily took a few moments to admire her girlfriend, sleeping peacefully with her blond hair splayed across the side of her sun-kissed creamy complexion, before walking down the hall to use the bathroom and get water to make coffee. Hanna was certainly not a morning person, but having coffee right away always helped things.

Twenty minutes later Hanna woke up to smell a pot of Dunkin' Donuts vanilla coffee. Emily poured a cup of coffee for Hanna, added a tiny bit of milk the way she liked it, and brought it to her in bed.

"I could get used to this," Hanna said after thanking Emily for the coffee. "Having my own personal barista," Hanna added when Emily responded to her first statement with a quizzical glance. Shaking her head gently in amusement, Emily picked up her own cup of coffee and sat down on the bed next to a still-naked Hanna.

"Can you grab me a T-shirt and shorts from my dresser?" Hanna asked with her famous pout Emily found impossible to say no to. Hanna emerged from the covers to slip on the skimpy shorts and snug T-shirt Emily had picked out. With her back to Emily, Hanna bent over to pick up the shorts, then slowly and sensually pulled them up before running her fingers just under the outer edge of the leg holes to smooth the silky fabric across her perfectly-shaped ass. Next Hanna bent over to pick up the shirt, pulled it over her head and turned to face Emily as she pulled the shirt fabric down tight against her body and squeezed her breasts together the way she knew Emily liked. Leaning back against the wall Emily looked her girlfriend up and down, seductively licking her bottom lip, quirking her eyebrows, and nodding in approval. "Oh Christ, Em," Hanna giggled, "I _just_ woke up and haven't even had a drop of coffee yet. Keep it in your pants." Hanna sat back down on the bed and snuggled into Emily, as if she hadn't just put on an insanely erotic show of getting dressed. Emily managed to calm down and the two drank their coffee in contented silence, enjoying each other's presence.

* * *

After the wake-up cup of coffee and reverse strip show, Hanna decided she was hungry and wanted to check out the dining commons, but Emily insisted she first put on less-revealing clothes to go out in public. Once properly dressed, the couple made their way out of the dorm on the east side of the building and crossed Washington Square Park on their way to Lipton Dining Hall. The previous night's extracurriculars left Hanna particularly hungry whereas the activities had left Emily's stomach and body completely satisfied. Hanna loaded a plate with scrambled eggs, turkey sausage and hash brown potatoes while Emily took just a bowl of oatmeal with raisins, a side of cottage cheese, and a banana. Emily kept up her strict swimmer's diet despite not competing in college because her diet was one of the few things in her life she felt able to control.

 _Emily found from a young age there were not many circumstances she could control, with constantly moving due to her dad's position in the military, but her diet was one thing she could control. Though she never told anyone, not even Hanna, she'd struggled with a sort of addiction since she was a young girl. Her mother was famous for making cookies, especially around holidays. During one particular winter when her father was gone a lot and her parents fought often, Emily used to sneak into her room with handfuls of cookies, sit on her bed reading, and eat. The cookies filled the emptiness inside, and she found she was only happy when eating, but as her appetite for cookies grew, she needed more and more to feel satisfied (the release of dopamine from sugar consumption mimics the effects of cocaine use, hence the basis for sugar addiction). That was around 6_ _th_ _grade, right after she'd moved to Texas. One night, after finishing her 7_ _th_ _over-sized chocolate chip cookie, Emily folded her arms across her stomach trying to ignore the pain due to the waist of her jeans digging into her ballooning stomach. Sitting back against the wall of her bedroom, she heard the front door slam as Wayne walked out after yet another fight, and just cried. Emily felt beyond hopeless, and decided it was time to break up with food. The next morning she spent such a long time getting ready there was not enough time to eat breakfast, so she promised her mother she'd grab something at school, but she didn't. All through first and second period she couldn't focus on what her teacher was saying because of the rumbling in her stomach, but by third period she appreciated the growing pain because she knew her body was starting to consume its gross self. Emily skipped lunch and when dinner rolled around she barely ate anything. She told her mom she'd had a big lunch and that their teacher had brought in cupcakes so she wasn't hungry. Emily learned a trick for reducing how much she ate during meals by taking the smallest bite possible then chewing it 20-30 times before swallowing. Her parents and friends only had so much patience to sit around after they ate waiting for Emily to finish, that Emily was able to get through meals eating only a fraction of a normal serving. After a few months of insanely restricted diet, Emily's body transformed itself. Her pants that had once cut into her stomach now fell off her hips and she could remove them without unbuttoning the top button. Her parents, teachers and friends noticed how much she had slimmed down and finally Pam & Wayne focused on something other than fighting with each other. Emily both loved and feared the attention; she loved being complemented on her new-found thinness (though she was never actually 'fat'), but was afraid of her parents intervening and undoing all the control she had gained over her body. She had survived the school year, but not eating over the summer would be hard since she couldn't hide from her parents as easily. In order to keep control Emily began counting calories and focusing her eating on getting enough fiber and calcium, which at the time had made sense but as time wore on Emily realized those were fairly arbitrary markers. The summer after 6_ _th_ _grade Emily joined the local fitness center, in order to befriend like-minded individuals, and keep her mind off her food obsessions. She began swimming and joined the intramural swim team, a sport which replaced the sugar addiction she continued to struggle with. Emily began waking up with her father and joining him on 3-mile jogs each morning. In the afternoons Emily swam laps and lifted weights with her new swimming buddy Jolynn. Together Emily and Jo trained hard to make the junior high swim team, where they had little to no actual competition so they competed against themselves and each other, always trying to best their previous time record. By the time Emily and Jo got to high school, they bested even the top seniors on the swim team. Luckily Emily and Jo had different specialty strokes, Emily was free-style while Jo was back stroke, because each of them won a State Championship, and if one had beaten the other their friendship would have been strained._

Noticing her girlfriend trapped in what appeared to be an unpleasant thought, Hanna broke the paper off one end of her straw, put the straw up to her lips and blew the rest of the straw wrapper into Emily's forehead. "You're doing it again, Em," Hanna said once she got her girlfriend's attention. As Hanna grew to know Emily, the dark-haired beauty showed more and more of a pensive, brooding side that no one else seemed to know about or even believe existed. As the star swimmer all through her years at Rosewood, Emily was the epitome of confidence. If Alison hadn't disappeared the same year Emily moved there, Em certainly would have given Ali a run for her money as Queen Bee of Rosewood High, that is if Emily cared enough about that kind of popularity. Outside of swimming, Emily preferred to blend into the background.

"Sorry Han, I was just thinking about what my workout schedule is going to be if I'm not training for swimming. Maybe I'll start jogging in Washington Park in the morning before class, my classes don't start until 9 this semester," Emily mused.

"Oh, 9 am classes, lucky you, I've got 8 am class Monday, Tuesday and Thursday," Hanna pouted. "But at least Wednesday and Friday I don't start until 11 am!" Hanna could tell her girlfriend was still upset about something, she'd been a little off ever since she moved in to their dorm yesterday, but she figured cause of distress was probably a lot more than just her workout schedule. Though, Hanna knew better than to press the issue right now.

After the couple finished their breakfast, they grabbed a cup of coffee to go, and headed out to stroll around Washington park and people watch. The weather was beautiful – clear blue sky and a slight breeze, which was cool for late August, but a welcome reprieve from sweltering humidity. A few yards away a tall couple was jogging, the girl jabbering away while her partner pretended to listen. Neither gave a hint of a smile or recognition when Hanna said "good morning," with a slight wave. Hanna held her coffee in her left hand and reached her other hand for Emily's. Turning to face her girlfriend, "everything Ok, Sweetheart?" Hanna asked. Emily responded with a labored deep breath, as if on the verge of a panic attack. Hanna led them to a nearby bench and they sat down.

"Tell me what's on your mind," Hanna spoke softly yet directly. "I know something is bothering you, and when you get upset, I get upset, so let's talk about it."

"Do you remember what it was like when I moved to Rosewood at the beginning of sophomore year?" Emily began slowly.

"I guess you were kind of a loner, except on the swim team, I think you were popular with almost everyone there," Hanna replied, unsure about where this conversation might be going.

"Well with my dad in the military, we moved around a lot when I was a kid." Hanna nodded, that was a given fact of Emily's past. "You would think that I would be used to moving to new places, used to making new friends, used to uncertainty," Emily continued. "But I'm not. I've never been comfortable moving to new places. It always takes me a while to adapt and growing up it seemed like every time I had gotten comfortable in a new place, it was time to leave. I was in a perpetual state of chaos, which is why I put so much focus on swimming and maintaining a healthy diet, even at the expense of having fun with friends. My body, my appearance, that was one thing I could control. I've never felt like I belonged anywhere, but during my freshman year of high school in Texas, the year I won the State Championship in swimming, the year I came out to my friends and family, I finally felt like I belonged. And then my dad got new orders to move to PA and everything surrounding what had been the best year of my life began to crumble. I lost all my friends, I lost my swim team, and I lost Bianca; I wasn't even gone a month before she started cheating on me, after convincing me we could make long distance work." Emily looked so vulnerable, on the verge of tears, which happened every time she brought up her first girlfriend.

"But then you moved to Rosewood, and met me and Spencer, and things got better, right?" Hanna was constantly reassuring Emily, though it was baffling as to how someone as beautiful and confident as Emily could be so damn insecure. Part of her wanted to go to Texas to choke the shit out of Emily's ex-girlfriend Bianca, whose betrayal Emily had yet to get over despite everything Hanna did to show her how much she cared. All the chaos of her life seemed to have given the girl an extremely tough façade, which she needed to protect her enormous heart. Hanna couldn't believe anyone could throw away the fiercely-dedicated love of Emily Fields.

"Yes, of course," Emily finally smiled. "You mean the world to me Hanna, but I'm terrified of losing you too. New York City is the biggest sea of chaos I've ever been in, and I'm scared to death. About everything. What if my dad doesn't come home? What if something happens to my mom when I'm gone? What if I can't make any friends? What if you get stolen away from me?" Emily's quick smile was replaced with her gnawing panic.

Hanna grabbed the brunette's shoulders and pulled her in for a tight hug. Again, she kissed her forehead and assured her everything would be ok. "It's a big city, yes, but once we get familiar with our immediate surroundings it won't seem as overwhelming," Hanna assured her. "I love you Emily Fields, and I'm not going anywhere. I promise to stay by your side through thick and thin. By Christmas you'll have that swim-team confidence back and I'll be the one who has to worry about their girlfriend being 'stolen'."

A genuine smile finally crept across Emily's face at Hanna's staunch reassurance. "Thanks Han, I love you too," Emily whispered as she pulled Hanna in for a soft, lingering kiss. "And I promise I'll never let anyone steal me," she added, widening her smile. Emily glanced at her watch and said "we probably ought to get going if we're going to video chat with Spencer. You know how she is about time – even worse than the Fields." Hanna chuckled lightly and agreed.

* * *

Hanna and Emily stepped off the elevator and made their way back to room 723, at 1:22 pm, which left 8 minutes before Spencer's call. Emily pulled out one of the desk chairs for Hanna, who motioned Emily should sit first. Emily complied with Hanna's request knowing the blond wanted to sit on her lap. Once the laptop was set up facing them, Hanna couldn't resist turning to straddle her girlfriend and wrap her arms around the brunette's shoulders, before capturing Emily's lips with her own. Emily moaned softly, encouraging Hanna to run her tongue along Emily's bottom lip. The swimmer parted her lips and danced her tongue around with Hanna's. Hanna began moaning as well when Emily slowly dragged her fingers up the inside of Hanna's thigh and underneath her shorts. As Emily teased her girlfriend, Hanna's moans became louder and her breathing more rapid and shallow. Just as Emily began to slip a finger inside Hanna's panties, the computer started ringing. Giggling almost hysterically, Emily removed her finger, answered the call and saw Spencer's face fill the screen, as Hanna pouted at Emily in despair.

"Uhm, hey guys, am I interrupting something?" Spencer smirked, not oblivious to the steamy scene unfolding on the other side of the video conversation.

"You're in big trouble later Miss Fields," Hanna growled in Emily's ear, winked, then turned to face the screen. "Haaaayyy Spence! How's Yale?" Spencer's eyes looked somewhat bloodshot, her hair was in a messy bun and she was wearing an oversized gray hoodie that was obviously not hers.

"Things are great, I think I might actually be becoming friends with Melissa," Spencer began. "Last night I went to a party at her sorority house, Gamma Zeta Chi, and she introduced me to a bunch of her friends. Surprisingly they're not nearly as stuck up as her crew in Rosewood."

"Well it looks like you had a hell of a time last night," Emily chimed in. "Did you just wake up or something?"

"No, I've been up for a few hours but just got back to my dorm room. I crashed on the Gamma Zeta guest couch after winning 8 games in a row of flip cup," Spencer offered with an undertone of pride. Flip cup was her jam. "Then I had breakfast in the GZX house this morning. I think this sorority thing has turned Melissa into the ideal big sister I never had. She was actually looking out for me last night after I got hammered, and was really friendly this morning. Later today we're going to hang out again so she can show me around campus some more."

"That's great Spence, but haven't you already been there for like an entire week?" Hanna asked, then itching to address the elephant in the room, "Whose sweatshirt are you wearing?"

"Yeah, I've been here a little over a week but mostly orientation stuff, a few pre-class lectures and talks so I can start the semester ahead. Melissa was away on some kind of retreat and just got back Friday, so she hasn't given me the "big sister tour," which is apparently a thing here I guess."

"And the sweatshirt?" Hanna asked, trying to keep Spencer on track when she tried to side step the question.

"Oh, so my flip cup partner is actually the grounds keeper for the house, he's a junior in landscape architecture and he's doing some really cool work putting in a koi pond in the back yard. His name's Toby, it's his sweatshirt."

"Wow, Spencer Hastings finally busting out of her shell and shacking up with some random dude after only a week at college," Hanna said mockingly.

"Hey, all we did was kiss last night, and he's not some _random_ dude, he's Melissa-approved. He even came over to the house this morning and offered to walk me home," Spencer could not keep the shit-eating grin off her face. "He's got potential. So how's NYU, how's living together?"

"Living together is great," Emily said, finally joining the conversation with a contented smile as she nuzzled her face into Hanna's shoulder.

"The city is a bit overwhelming," Hanna added, for Emily's sake. "And you'll never believe whom we ran into last night!" Spencer raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Mona Vanderwaal, roaming the streets with Caleb, I think his last name is Rivers or something," Hanna stated. "Apparently, she goes to NYU and lives three floors below us. Caleb does cyber security or something."

"Why of all the colleges in all the cities of the country, did Mona choose NYU?" Emily huffed. Hanna assumed Emily was harping on Mona to focus all her nervous energy on something other than herself, she knew for a fact Emily did not have anything against Mona other than her being friends with Paige, who was actually the source of friction for Emily.

"Oh, come on Em," Spencer said, attempting a comforting tone, "it won't be that bad. There are plenty of other people to meet and you probably won't even run into her that much. Paige is on the other side of the country besides, so you don't have to worry about her either. Besides, maybe it's time to bury the hatchet with Mona?"

A knock on the door interrupted Spencer's thoughts, and she excused herself from the conversation to let in her guest, a tall, well-built guy with short dirty-blond hair and blue eyes. "Come say hi to my friends," Spencer said, grabbing her guest's hand. "Emily, Hanna, this is Toby."

* * *

a/n: Emily's character in this fic is a little OOC from the show, and in this fic she has had a rough childhood with a lot of obstacles to overcome, but with the aid of Hanna, Emily will blossom into the strong woman she doesn't yet know she is. All the characters in this fic have highly-complex and interwoven back stories that may take a while to develop, and I'll add some fluff to keep things fun. If the plot gets too confusing, let me know, as I have been known to make stories a bit too complex. Also let me know any other thoughts/opinions/suggestions!


	3. Fall Break Pt 1: Yale

_This story, which includes the back story of Rosewood, draws correlations from and was inspired by The Godfather, by Mario Puzo. The plot has been manically weaving itself through my subconscious for a while and it's a struggle to get the pieces laid down in coherent order without gaping plot holes. In order to develop the plot as I envision it, the Fall Break will be broken into 3 parts at 3 different places– Yale, Rosewood and NYU, and some parts will necessarily be narrated from different perspectives, though I will do my best to include as much Hannily as possible. Thanks to everyone for reading, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story so leave me a review if you have time_

Hanna groggily woke up on a Thursday morning in mid-October with a splitting headache, and when she turned to complain to her girlfriend, Emily's spot was empty. Slowly pushing back the curtain around their bed, and getting out, as if moving through a tub of jello, Hanna reached for her phone to check her messages. _Nothing._ _What the fuck?_ It was very unlike Emily to get up and leave without telling her girlfriend exactly where she was going. As quickly as she could Hanna texted Emily to find out where she was. A few moments later there was a knock on the door. Hanna pulled Emily's Rosewood Swim Team hoodie over her head and opened the door warily.

"Good morning Beautiful!" Emily exclaimed, holding two cups of Dunkin Donuts coffee and a Bagel Belly bag. Emily had woken up early and knew Hanna was going to have a rough morning, considering how much she had drank the previous night, and went out for her girlfriend's favorite hangover cure.

 _The previous evening's festivities continued much later than the couple had planned on. Their across the hall neighbors, Sara Harvey and Jenna Marshall, invited them over around 8 for a couple drinks to celebrate fall break. A couple drinks turned into 5 or 6 strong vodka punches, and the atmosphere grew rowdy. Despite full awareness of Hanna and Emily's relationship, Jenna thought it would be fun to invite some guys up to liven the party. Around 11:30, Wes, the RA who now considered himself officially off-duty, barged in, followed by Tyler, Luke and Cooper. Wes, Tyler and Luke came up with a backpack full of Natty Light and Cooper followed with blood-shot eyes and a gallon of water. Everything after that was a blur, but Hanna remembered being groped by either Tyler or Luke, which seemed to be hilarious to Cooper. Or maybe Cooper was entranced the by lava lamp; either situation was equally possible._

"Oh my god, Em, you're the best," Hanna exclaimed as she hugged her girlfriend, awkwardly, thanks to the coffee and bagels she was holding.

Emily walked in the room, and pointedly checked the clock. "It's 8:42 Han, we need to be out of here by 10:15 _at the latest_ to catch the bus." Luckily all their luggage was packed, Emily had insisted on doing that before heading over to Sara and Jenna's for the disastrous a pre-break party.

"Ok, just let me drink this coffee first because I can barely function right now," Hanna whined.

The first few weeks of college had flown by for Emily and Hanna, what with grueling class schedules, social lives, and of course a daily exercise routine. Emily's unease was melting away as Hanna joined her for daily runs and left sticky notes all over the mirror or in Emily's folders telling her how beautiful she was, and how much Hanna loved her. By the second week of school the entire floor was aware of the more-than-just-roommates status of their relationship, and most people were totally cool with it. But there's always that one group of assholes…in this case two of the three yahoos the girls had met during the freshman orientation, Tyler, Luke; Cooper was a pretty cool guy when he was away from his cronies.

The girls were excited for the four-day weekend of fall break, during which they would be visiting Spencer at Yale. Hanna laid her head on Emily's shoulder, snuggling into her girlfriend as they sat near the back of the MegaBus, ready to visit Spencer at Yale. The bus would take off around 11, and would drop the girls off in New Haven a bit after 1 pm. It was a perfect fall morning – the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the bus was nearly empty. Emily, desperately needing a break from her hectic semester, was looking forward to a peaceful bus ride.

However, the blissful silence was broken by some clown's futile attempt at beat boxing. Hanna closed her eyes and groaned at the obnoxious sound of their buddy Tyler announcing his presence. After taking a deep breath, Hanna sat up and opened her eyes. Emily's arm slipped off her girlfriend's shoulder and fell to the seat as a dead weight thanks to the brunette's exasperation.

"Oh hey girls," Luke said casually as he dutifully followed Tyler to the seat directly across the aisle from the couple. "So good to see you again. I guess after last night you two couldn't get enough of us." Cooper streamed in last, walking slowly and nodding his head to music no one else could hear, and took the seat behind Tyler and Luke. He was the most tolerable of the group, due to his lad-back nature and non-arrogant self-confidence. Then there was Luke, for some unknown reason Luke worshipped Tyler, who spent way too much of his time chumming with their pretentious RA Wesley Fitzgerald. Emily found it perplexing that Cooper should hang out with Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum, but she assumed it was due to their parents' close ties; apparently fake blood was thicker than intelligence.

Hanna briefly looked up, nodded and gave a slight wave to the clown crew before averting their gaze out the window and engaging in pseudo-conversation with Emily about a design project she was working on, hoping the guys would take the hint and leave them alone. Emily, furious about the previous night's groping situation, gave them all death stares. Alas, Tyler was oblivious to their not-so-subtle clues.

"Where you sexy ladies headed our way for the weekend?" Tyler asked, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively. Emily wanted to pound the shit out of him.

"Ok, one, don't speak to us like that, and two, none of your fucking business where we're going for the weekend," Emily spat. Her hatred for Tyler had grown since that first night they met at freshman orientation and culminated the previous evening when he tried to force himself on Hanna.

Luke added fuel to the fire, "Whoa kitty, put your claws away. Ty was just offering a compliment and trying to be friendly. No need to get your panties in a bunch." Then under his breath, "feminist dyke."

Emily's stare turned more deadly, as she struggled to avoid physical violence. Surely she could take both Tyler and Luke, though it would be difficult. Hanna sensed Emily's rage and cut in, "You know what, y'all can go fuck yourselves. Immature fucking toddlers." Tyler and Luke retreated to seats a few rows behind, whispering, presumably about the girls who weren't into them.

* * *

Emily was relieved when the bus finally pulled into the New Haven station, and just had to roll her eyes as Tyler made a big show of standing up and extending his arms with a flourish of his hands indicating the females should proceed first, as if they were royalty. Tyler definitely spent way too much time with Wes. Emily led the pack, followed closely by Hanna, and scanned the sparse crowd at the station looking for their friend. Off to the left of the platform she spotted Spencer standing arm-in-arm with Toby, and waved with her one free hand. Spencer waved back smiling and shaking her head as Hanna was practically jumping out of her skin with excitement waiting for the crowd between her and Spencer to dissipate.

"Ahhhhh, it's so good to see you," Spencer exclaimed as she pulled her two best friends in for a group hug. "How was your trip?"

"Alright I suppose," Hanna replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"Alright?!" Emily asked. "We got fucking drooled on and condescended by a group of immature toddlers from our dorm, including the one who tried to force himself drunkenly on my girlfriend last night! They're lucky Hanna stopped me from laying the smack-down." Hanna turned to her girlfriend and gently grabbed her shoulders. Looking into the brunette's dark brown eyes, Hanna pushed the diffuse switch and told Emily "It'll be ok, just take a deep breath." College had been a struggle for Emily who was juggling a full schedule of classes and a lingering sense of uncertainty, and Hanna had a unique ability to calm Emily down in a heartbeat the one certain thing in her girlfriend's life.

Spencer waited a moment for Hanna to alleviate Emily's stress. Observing the scene in front of her, it seemed to her as if Emily was not the same cocky athlete she was in high school.

"This is Toby," Spencer stated unnecessarily, pointing to her new squeeze after Emily's distress had been replaced by a small smile.

"Hey guys, it's nice to finally meet you in person. Spencer's been telling me all about you," Toby said with a soft-spoken voice and a genuine smile. He offered his hand to Emily then Hanna.

"Nice to meet you too," the girls said in unison, taking turns to shake Spencer's boyfriend's strong hand.

The group headed out to the parking lot and Toby loaded Hanna and Emily's luggage into the back of Melissa's black Mercedes SUV she loaned to Spencer. As a first year, Spencer couldn't have her own car on campus and Toby's truck was not big enough to fit everyone comfortably.

"Are you guys hungry?" Spencer asked. It was just after 1 pm.

"Oh my god, yes," Hanna said dramatically. "I feel like I haven't eaten in days." Ever since Hanna started running with Emily it seemed like she was always hungry.

"I'm pretty hungry too, but I think Hanna's exaggerating. We had bagels and cream cheese on the bus just a couple of hours ago," Emily explained, squeezing her girlfriend's shoulder affectionately. "Hanna's appetite has become extremely high maintenance since she started running with me." Emily smirked.

"Hanna, running?" Spencer feigned surprise. Though Hanna wasn't a competitive athlete, Spencer knew she liked to stay in shape, which required considerable work thanks to Hanna's "healthy" eating habits. "Ok, let's stop at the EverReady Diner, best burgers in town."

"Sounds good," Toby pulled onto the road, heading back towards campus.

"So Toby, how did you and Spencer get together?" Hanna asked, despite having heard the story from Spencer multiple times.

"Hanna, I've told you like a million times how we met," Spencer said in curious exasperation.

"Well I want to know Toby's side of the story," Hanna replied defiantly.

Toby chuckled at the exchange then began his story. "Well I began taking care of the landscape at the sorority house last fall and got to know Spencer's sister pretty well. I was interested in Spencer before she even knew me. I went to the Welcome Weekend party at the house with Jason, and he introduced me to Spencer. We chatted briefly while someone set up a game of flip cup. I think Spencer wanted to show off, so she asked me to play. After like 8 games in a row we were both half in the bag so I suggested we step outside for some fresh air, to give me an opportunity to show off my work. The air was surprisingly cool for mid-August and when Spence began shivering I offered her my sweatshirt. After pulling on my hoodie Spence turned to hug me and…" Toby was clearly beginning to get uncomfortable about revealing their intimate moments so Hanna cut in.

"…And the rest is history," Hanna offered. "Right?"

"Yeah something like that," Toby smiled shyly. "How about you? How'd you and Emily get together?"

Hanna and Emily looked at each other, and held a conversation with their eyes, agreeing Emily would start and Hanna would finish the story, as per usual.

"Well, I grew up in Texas," Emily began. "My father is in the military, and after I finished 9th grade he got stationed outside Philadelphia, so we moved to Rosewood. I joined the swim team and immediately caused friction with the top swimmer when I turned down her proposition." That was a bit of an exaggeration, as Paige did not exactly "proposition" Emily, she was just always checking her out and touching unnecessarily while trying to be chummy. One day Emily called her out on it, told her she wasn't interested and so Paige should stop undressing her with her eyes and keep her hands to herself.

"The top swimmer, a girl named Paige, was the arch-nemesis of our friend Alison who went missing around the same time Emily moved to Rosewood. Spencer and I threw around the idea that Paige had something to do with Ali's disappearance, but I don't think she was smart enough for that," Hanna added. "Another thing that happened is that one of Paige's close friends had just moved to Iceland for the year, about three weeks before school started. Paige, Aria, the one who was in Iceland, and Mona were a weird group of girls that got under Ali's skin mainly because they weren't afraid of her."

"From what I've heard, your so-called "friend" Alison was anything but," Toby said with air quotes and a bemused expression. "Spencer's told me how controlling and manipulative she was, and I just can't quite believe anyone would want to be friends with someone so vile," which got an eye roll from Spencer. Toby always over-exaggerated the drama around the topic of Alison.

"Well Alison wasn't that bad, but I don't think she would've approved of me dating Emily," Hanna shook her head slightly and smiled. "Especially because Emily is way hotter than Ali," she added, winking at her girlfriend.

Emily cut back in to continue the story. "Ok, so I caused problems with the hot-shot, still-in-the-closet Paige McCullers when I moved to Rosewood, so naturally I gravitated towards Hanna and Spencer, whom Paige held a grudge against because they were friends of Ali's. With Alison gone, Paige was vicious to them, despite the fact she really didn't have any problem with Hanna or Spencer other than they were friends of Ali's," Emily explained.

"Right. Emily stuck up for us because Paige was having some existential crisis and took out her feelings on us," Hanna said. "Also Emily lived nearby so we all walked to and from school together before we got our licenses. I can't remember the exact moment I started falling for Emily but by the time I realized what was happening it was too late to do anything about it. I dropped like a rock for this sexy piece of ass," Hanna said with a sly grin, which made Emily blush.

"Yeah, I remember sticking up for Spencer and Hanna, it just felt natural, like we'd all been friends for much longer than we had. I suppose the timing just worked out. Their friend was gone and I was in the market for friends-"

Emily was cut off by Toby. "And the rest is history?" he asked, finishing the story for Hanna as he pulled into a parking spot outside the EverReady Diner.

Emily and Hanna looked at each other and smiled. "Sure." Sophomore year of high school was drenched in drama and it would take hours to just scratch the surface of the entire story about how they got together. The important thing was that they were together at that moment.

* * *

Over lunch the friends chatted about their classes. Spencer was enrolled in a pre-law program at Yale, Emily told Spencer all about the Prehealth Program, which was a sort of a program track aimed at students considering medical school. Due to the diversity of medical specialists, a standard "premed" major was not an option at NYU. After her shoulder injury during senior year Emily became interested in physical therapy and was considering med school. Hanna was pursuing a double major in marketing and fashion design, as knowing how to sell one's designs was sometimes a bigger hurdle than designing the most popular brand. Toby held to the background letting the girls catch up after months apart.

"Speaking of classes, I have my hour-long freshman seminar this afternoon and I can't miss it," Spencer apologized. "Since it's nice out maybe you'd want to sit in the quad area and I'll give you a tour when I'm done."

"I've done enough sitting for a while," Hanna said dramatically, receiving the sexy eye roll she weirdly loved from her girlfriend. "Maybe we'll just get a head-start on viewing the campus before your 'official' tour. We skipped our run this morning so it'll be good for us to move."

"Sounds good to me," Emily added with a pleasant shrug, after granting her girlfriend the eye roll she was looking for. Emily hadn't realized how tense she'd been since college started, and now that she was with her two best friends away from the insanity of college, she could finally relax.

The air was a crisp 62 degrees with the slightest hint of a breeze and not a cloud in the sky. Hand-in-hand Emily and Hanna wandered around the edge of the quad area, each holding a Yale commissary latte in their free hand. The trees up there in Connecticut were much further into senescence than those in New York, "which is why the trees up here have fewer leaves than the trees on our campus. It's cooler up here so the leaves change color earlier and fall off earlier than in New York," Emily explained. Apparently she learned something from the Intro to Horticulture class she was taking.

Hanna turned and kissed her girlfriend on her cheek then on her neck, "you're so adorable when you get nerdy," she whispered.

"You're adorable all the time, Hanna Marin," Emily said smugly. The couple had a mildly obnoxious act of needing to one-up the other's compliment, and it was getting out of control without Spencer around to tell them to knock it off.

"Hey check out that mural under the bridge over there," Emily pointed. "It kind of looks like professional graffiti?" Throughout campus they'd noticed various intricate murals, somewhat ominous yet strikingly beautiful at the same time. Almost every piece was signed by "USER."

Hanna scanned the horizon until her gazed landed on the art Emily was pointing to, which seemed to be some sort of Impressionist mural. There was an eerie blending of dark and light shades combined in abstract forms. Hanna thought she could pick out people, in various landscapes, but each time she turned her head and looked back the painting seemed to morph into something else. Curiously enough, the word USER kept showing up, woven throughout the mural as if to convey some deep feeling.

"It doesn't look like any of the graffiti I've seen in the city, but I suppose graffiti artists are more talented up here," Hanna replied. "It must have something to do with the early senescence of the trees," she added, playfully poking Emily in the side where she was most ticklish.

* * *

"How does Yale hold up to NYU?" Spencer asked after she finished her seminar, as she gave Hanna and Emily a proper, guided tour of the campus.

"The trees have fewer leaves, because of senescence," Hanna offered proudly using the big word she just learned from Emily. Spencer looked at her blond friend curiously.

"I'm taking an Intro to Horticulture class," Emily said. "Senescence is when the leaves change color and die. It happens earlier up here than down in the city because it is slightly cooler up here." Spencer nodded in understanding.

"So what's the deal with the graffiti around here? It looks professional," Emily asked.

"Oh, the USER graffiti," Spencer began slowly. "Each person you ask about it here will give a different answer. The most popular explanation is that the art is anarchist. Many of the pieces seem to glamorize "system breakdown" if you observe from the right perspective. I think my roommate Skye wrote a philosophy paper about the apparent meaning behind the art."

"Oh yeah? What perspective would that be?" Hanna asked. Fashion art was her thing, and she couldn't find a way to apply that knowledge to appreciating other types of art.

"According to Skye, it's from a "higher" perspective," Spencer explained, somewhat skeptical. "Something to do with meditation and achieving oneness, or something."

"Skye is such a weird name," Hanna murmured, mostly to herself. She and Emily had only met the girl briefly through video chat once. She was thin and had neatly-kept blonde dreads. According to Spencer the girl was brilliant, easy-going and always smelled like patchouli.

* * *

After the tour through campus and discussion of the USER graffiti, the trio returned to Spencer's dorm room and relax before the evening's festivities.

"So, Spence, have you told Toby about your high school love affair with Fitz?" Hanna asked bluntly. Better to go along with a white lie than create a messy situation. Emily stared wide-eyed, as it continued to baffle her how blunt her girlfriend could be.

"Not exactly," Spencer replied. "I told him I dated an older college guy named Ethan briefly, but it was nothing serious. We just went on a few movie dates and after I met him at a bar in Philly."

"Hopefully Melissa doesn't spill the beans that you were actually dating your high school English teacher," Hanna said. The Hasting sisters were known to undermine each other at almost every opportunity.

"Melissa and I are much closer now than in high school. The bond of sisterhood of Gamma Zeta Chi wouldn't allow Melissa to destroy my relationship with Toby. Especially after she helped set us up," Spencer shot back. Spencer was embarrassed about her relationship with Ezra Fitz while he was her English teacher, though at the time it was exciting as hell.

The atmosphere at Yale was a lot less pretentious than Spencer had anticipated and NYU was much more pretentious than Hanna and Emily expected. The biggest surprise, however, was that Spencer had decided to accept a bid from a sorority. Spencer was excited to bring her friends to the GZX house that evening for a pre-break bon fire, to meet her pledge class.

Around 7 pm, Toby stopped by Spencer's dorm to escort the girls to the Gamma Zeta Chi house for pre-bon fire pizza. The rapidly-cooling fall air was crisp and clear with only a slight breeze, perfect conditions for a bon fire. The group was greeted at the door by Jason DiLaurentis, who'd approached from the other side of the house. Jason and Melissa had been best friends growing up, and became lovers in college.

"Hey Jason, look who wandered in today," Spencer called out, motioning towards Emily and Hanna.

"Hey Han, good to see you," Jason replied with a smile, "and under better circumstances." The last time Jason and Hanna saw each other was 3 years ago at his father's funeral, the same day his sister disappeared.

 _After Kenneth DiLaurentis' funeral, Hanna and Spencer hugged Alison in futile attempts to assuage her despair before departing, leaving Alison to mourn with her family. The next morning Hanna had multiple texts from Mrs. D asking if Alison was with her. Still half asleep, Hanna called her friend's mother, who answered the phone with sleep-deprived hysteria. Apparently Alison had gone for a walk after returning home from the funeral and never came back. Mysteriously, Jason had hurriedly returned to college just after the funeral and was not returning any of her phone calls._

 _After she hung up the phone, Hanna's dad called up to her. "Hanna, sweetie, you better come see the paper." Based on the conversation she just had, she knew what the paper would say. Knowing what the paper would say, however, did not prepare her to actually see it. Sprawled across the front page was the word "Missing," with a full-size picture of Alison DiLaurentis beneath it. Hanna couldn't believe the girl she had just seen 12 hours earlier was missing._

 _"Mom, doesn't someone have to be missing for more than 48 hours before a police investigation is launched?" Hanna asked. Though her parents were still "together," it was well known that Ashley Marin maintained a particularly close relationship with one Darren Wilden, Rosewood's perpetual "Corrupt Cop of the Year."_

 _"Well honey, I think there might be something more to the story about Kenneth's death. Rosewood PD had reason to believe Alison could be in danger after Jessica called them frantically in the middle of the night," Ashley explained._

"Good to see you too Jason, you look good," Hanna ran over to hug Jason, who was kind of like a brother to her growing up when she was best friends with Alison. Since the funeral and Ali's disappearance they had fallen out of touch. "How are Ali and your mom doing? Are they still staying with your aunt in Georgia?"

Jason took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose slowly. "I don't have any family in Georgia."

"But the papers said your mom and Ali were with family out-of-town though it was never specified where. Spence and I both got text messages from Ali saying she had to lay low, that she was staying in Georgia with her mom and her aunt," Hanna spoke bewildered.

"Those messages weren't from Ali," Jason said shaking his head. "It might have been her number, her phone, but not Ali herself. There is a much bigger story surrounding my father's death, and it has far-reaching implications. I wish I could say more, but the less the public knows, the better."

Emily stood behind Hanna awkwardly, unsure how to proceed. Alison DiLaurentis went missing the day before Emily started her sophomore year at Rosewood High, and Emily knew nothing of her family. Jason broke the ice, offered his hand and introduced himself. "Hey, I'm Jason."

"Emily," she replied as she firmly shook Jason's hand.

"Well it's no use standing out here in the cold, let's head inside," Spencer suggested as she opened the door and led the group into the warm house. The hall just inside the door had a plush blue carpet, cream-colored walls and a collage of individual and group photos. "You can leave your coats here, and don't worry about taking your shoes off as long as they're not covered in mud."

Once everyone was situated in the hall, Spencer turned on pledge mode, explaining the background of the house. "Gamma Zeta Chi was founded in 2009 from a grant provided by the estate of Alfredo DiLaurentis," she began before being interrupted sharply by Hanna.

"Wait a minute, is this Alfredo _DiLaurentis_ in any way related to Ali?" Hanna was incredulous, having no recollection of any relative on the DiLaurentis side.

"As a matter of fact, yes, Fredo was her grandfather," Spencer knew she was getting into dangerous territory, and should have predicted Hanna would jump on the DiLaurentis detail immediately, but there was no way she could've made it the entire weekend hiding the connection from her friends. "The sorority was started in memory of Alfredo DiLaurentis, who had devoted much of his life to making Yale the impressive college it was today." Spencer had been informed of various hidden connections, but was sworn to secrecy as that was the bedrock of the sorority. "Alredo DiLaurentis began a very successful nuclear research program here about 35 years ago. He died in a car crash around 20 years ago, and left a large sum of money to be reinvested into the school. Fredo's children decided to invest the money to begin professional organizations, and so Fredo's oldest grandson Sully chartered Omicron Mu Tau, which is currently presided over by Jason, and his oldest granddaughter Emma chartered a sorority, Gamma Zeta Chi, as a way to keep the story of his life and legacy alive."

"Bravo, Spencer," Melissa emerged at the end of the hall clapping lightly at her sister's explanation. "Angie will be so proud of that a stellar history you've given our guests." Angela Cordoza was the Pledge Master, the girl in charge of making sure all the pledges performed up to GZX standards. Melissa, of course, was the president. "Welcome to Gamma Zeta Chi ladies," Melissa said, turning to acknowledge Hanna and Emily. "Come on in, pizza just got here and there're drinks in the kitchen," Melissa informed them as she ushered the girls into the dining room on the right side at the end of the hall. Jason and Toby waited a couple seconds and followed suit.

* * *

A handful of sisters and Spencer's entire pledge class were sitting around the dining room table that was covered with paper plates, napkins, pizza and red solo cups filled with beer or wine. There were a couple boxes of Franzia, one red, one white, on the table as well, and a keg of beer in a bucket of ice on the side porch, just outside the sliding glass door on the far side of the kitchen. Fall break was a big party weekend, and an unofficial Greek homecoming, which justified the girls springing for a keg rather than cases. Jason and Toby grabbed a couple cups and slipped out onto the porch to the keg, in order to avoid the girl talk and discuss macho things. After chugging a beer each and filling up a second cup, the guys returned in to devour some pizza.

"Hey Everyone, meet my friends that are here from NYU, Hanna and Emily," Spencer announced as she motioned with her full hand. One of the rules of GZX was that "pointing is rude," so instead of pointing the pledges are encouraged to motion with their entire hand. "Emily, Hanna, this is Angela, our Pledge Master, upper class sisters Lauren, Cathy, Sara, and Lena, and my pledge sisters Rachel, Chloe, Mia, and Eliza."

"Uhm, hi everyone," Hanna said, looking puzzled. "I hope you don't expect me to remember all those names," she said, turning to Spencer.

"Don't worry, there'll be a quiz later," Angela smirked and raised her eyebrows, glancing pointedly towards the pledge paddle displayed on the adjacent living room wall. "Can I get you a drink?" she asked with a suddenly friendly smile.

"Hi everyone," Emily began nervously, then turned immediately to Angela, "I guess I'll have a beer. What kind is it?" Emily wasn't wasting any time. During their first months of college Hanna's encouragement brought Emily further out of her shell than even Bianca had back when Emily first came out of the closet. Hanna certainly had her work cut out for her too, because Emily was not inclined to trust anyone after she was betrayed by her ex-girlfriend. However, despite how relaxed Emily had been during their walk around campus, being surrounded by attractive women she didn't know made her uncomfortable.

"PBR," Rachel, one of Spencer's pledge sisters said, practically jumping out of her seat. "Let me get that for you."

Sensing her girlfriend's unease, Hanna reached for Emily's hand reassuringly, to let her know everything would be ok. Emily relaxed her shoulders and gently squeezed Hanna's hand in appreciation.

"Anything for you Hanna?" Another of the pledge sisters, Chloe, asked, eager to show off her hospitality in front of Angie.

"Wine, I guess white wine, sounds good," Hanna replied with a smile. "Thanks."

After Chloe poured Hanna a cup of wine and Rachel filled a cup with beer from the keg on the porch for Emily, they all sat down to eat some pizza. The girls chatted about academic majors, life goals, significant others while they sipped their drinks and polished off the two large pizzas in the center of the table. Just as Emily finished her last bite of pizza, Mia cleared Emily's empty plate and flashed a smile. Hanna caught on to the subtle flirting and smiled to herself as she winked at Emily.

The girls sat around the table and finished their drinks before heading down to the empty lot at the end of Greek Row, where the bonfire was to be held. As the girls stood up and began pushing in their chairs, a short figure with piercing green eyes and brown hair just past her shoulders emerged from the den, commanding everyone's attention. "Good evening, ladies," she said in a booming voice. "Y'all save me any pizza?"

All the girls in Spencer's pledge class looked around the room furtively. Emma Zangrilli, the young "house mother" had been in Atlantic City attending to family business and wasn't expected back until the next day. Jason's head flew up from his pizza and he stared at his cousin wide-eyed.

Eliza, the short, dark-skinned, half-Korean pledge sister finally spoke, or rather stuttered, "S-s-s-orry Em-m-a, we d-didn't e-expect you until t-t-omorrow."

Flashing a satisfied smile, Emma held up an EverReady to-go container. "Don't worry, I got a chicken parm sandwich on my way home," and winked at Eliza, who was the most nervous pledge, possibly due to her non-European heritage. Eliza breathed a sigh of relief and took a large gulp of what looked like red wine.

"I thought you were bringing your sister back for the weekend," Melissa asked with a semi-suspicious face. "Isn't NYU on the way back from AC?" Emma's family were real estate moguls planning to enter the casino business in Atlantic City, NJ, which was a tricky affair to maneuver. Spencer and the other pledges and sisters had some idea of what was going on, but Hanna and Emily were completely clueless. Upon receiving odd looks from Spencer's friends, Melissa attempted to clarify her question, "you mentioned how excited your sister was last week about visiting, what changed her mind?" Melissa flawlessly transitioned her question to downplay the implications of Carmen not accompanying her big sister for the weekend. As president of the sorority as well as Emma's "Little Sister," in terms of sorority life, Melissa knew more about the true nature of the DiLaurentis/Zangrilli family than anyone else in the house. Emma's trip was an important one, in terms of strategy in expanding the Family business in the face of direct opposition. It would be easier to explain to Hanna and Emily that Emma's sister Carmen merely had a change of heart about visiting, rather than a major road block in the DiLaurentis-Fitzgerald war.

"Oh, I guess little Carmella is being whimsical and chasing after some theater boy this weekend. It's fitting considering how dramatic she's become these past few weeks," Emma said with an eye roll. "Who wants to introduce me to the new girls?"

"These are my friends from high school, Emily and Hanna. They're on fall break from NYU also, they came in on the MegaBus this afternoon," Spencer explained.

"Oh yeah, which dorm do you live in? " Emma asked nonchalantly.

"Uhm, we share a room in Goddard Hall," Emily stated.

"Oh, maybe you know my sister Carmella? She lives in Goddard and I think her roommate is from Rosewood as well," Emma said with piqued interest.

"Of course," Hanna interjected as Emily rolled her eyes and before she started popping off at the mouth about how much she hated Mona. "She lives with Mona Vanderwaal, we're not _best_ friends but we've hung out a couple times. Carmen's pretty quiet, like she's always deep in thought or something."

"Mona's last name is Vanderwaal? That's interesting," Emma said as her green eyes darkened and she glanced at the stairs. Hanna was baffled as to why Emma wouldn't know Mona's last name and what could be so interesting. "Well ladies, welcome to GZX, enjoy the bonfire – I'll catch up with you later. Melissa, a word?" Emma added with a slight nod of her head. Melissa whispered something to Jason and kissed his cheek before she turned and followed Emma up the stairs. The plot was definitely thickening.

"Okay everyone, it's time to head to the bonfire," Angela jumped in. "Don't forget you're representing the Gamma Zeta Chi name, so don't do anything foolish," Angela commanded the attention of just the pledge class, Emily and Hanna. The upper class sisters had all heard the "representing GZX" speech many times and really didn't need to be reminded. Emily was stunned at how well-organized the sorority was. She always had the idea that groups in the Greek system were just loosely-associated party squads.

The crew donned their fall bonfire gear – heavy sweatshirts, the upper classmen with the letters displayed across their chests, the pledge class in matching gray Yale hoodies adorned with their pledge pins, Emily in a gray NYU hoodie and Hanna in Emily's navy blue Rosewood High swim team hoodie – and headed down the Greek row, past the impressive brick mansions that served as fraternity and sorority houses, towards the empty lot where a huge fire was already ablaze.

Sometime during the "representing GZX speech," Toby and Jason left the house with a couple of beers each and made it to the bonfire well ahead of the rest of the girls. Once at the bonfire the pledge class was allowed to split up, after marching foolishly and chanting the motto of GZX: _Sisters all are we, with a sacred history, We the sisters of Gamma Zeta Chi, Will hold our secret till we die!_ Their chant was ominous, but meant to set their sorority apart, as if to be above the rest. The "secret" of the sorority was intriguing enough to have put GZX in the most respected, sought-after sorority, though other members of the Panhellenic Conference (PHC) thought whatever "secret" held by GZX was just a charade.

Whilst the pledges chanted and marched, Hanna and Emily walked alongside the pledge parade, hand-in-hand, not quite sure what else to do. Finally they reached the bonfire and the girls found Toby and Jason standing among a few guys with OMT sweatshirts on, a few beers ahead of them, and deep in conversation. Spencer let out a sigh and shook her head when she noticed Toby had broken out his Yellow pack of American Spirits.

"Here we go," Spencer rolled her eyes knowing Toby was fairly buzzed and about to drop some philosophical bombshell on her friends. Taking the same cue as Spencer, the two OMT guys made a quick exit, pounding Jason's fist.

"Check ya later, bro."

With the fraternity guys gone, Toby launched his typical drunken tirade. "You know, I started out in bioengineering, but all that political bullshit surrounding genetically-modified organisms was too high to wade through. I've wasted too much breath already explaining we're all technically _genetically-modified organisms_ , in terms of evolution but there is no way to win that argument with a Creationist. Applying for genetic engineering grants from a creationist is a huge waste of everyone's time. Besides, I consider myself more of an Artist than a Scientist, and I don't understand why I can't be respected as both. The scientific community wants nothing to do with Art, as it is a Humanities "discipline," Toby always put discipline in sarcastic air quotes. "The field of Art understands on some level that Science is an important aspect of its work. Science is the Yin to Art's Yang. It's all about balance. I think if Science doesn't come to appreciate the value of Art in its black-and-white vision of the world, it will lead to the downfall of humanity, mark my words," Toby said to no one in particular. "But who the hell am I to say?"

"You must get along well with Spencer's roommate?" Hanna asked. From what she'd heard of Skye, the girl seemed to have an ephemeral grasp on reality, which somehow made her profoundly philosophical, and that's exactly the vibe she picked up from Toby as he blew smoke rings above the crowd.

"Hey Toby, where'd you learn to blow smoke rings?" Emily asked, slightly buzzed. "I've always wanted to try."

"Have you ever smoked before?" Toby asked warily. The last thing he needed was his girlfriend's friends throwing up on their first night in town.

"I've bummed a cig once or twice," Emily said. "Can you teach me? Pretty please?"

Taking a deep breath and looking towards Spencer for approval, "Yeah, why not? You'll want to be sure not to inhale all the way, which will hopefully prevent you from getting sick." Toby pulled out a cigarette and lit it for Emily. "First thing is just breathe the smoke into your mouth, and try not to inhale all the way into your lungs."

Emily took the cigarette up to her lips and inhaled, which resulted in a fit of coughing. Toby chuckled. "Don't inhale so far. You just want to fill your mouth with smoke and let it sit right behind your teeth. Then open your mouth slightly and gently stick your tongue through the middle of the smoke to push it out. You don't really want to force the air out, just let it flow."

Emily tried again. "Don't open your mouth so far," Toby instructed. "And don't blow the air out, just let it flow."

After about 10 more tries, Emily was starting to get frustrated, when finally one thin ring of smoke emerged from her mouth. "Hooray, I did it!" Emily exclaimed. "Do you want to try Han?" she asked with the remaining half of the burning cigarette. Hanna was quite a few more drinks in than Emily, considering she started out drinking wine instead of beer.

"I'm not too concerned about blowing smoke rings, but I'll finish the other half. Your smoke breath is not as bad if I have it too," Hanna wrapped her free arm around Emily's shoulder and brought her in for a drunken wet kiss before grabbing the butt from Emily's hand.

The bon fire, held in an empty lot at the end of Greek row, was hosted by the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and Panhellenic Council (PHC), and granted a special permit to serve alcohol. The rules stipulated wrist bands for students and alumni over 21, but the police generally turned the other way to underage drinking as long as there were no fights or noise complaints. It was a delightful way to begin fall break, and the fun has only just begun.

* * *

a/n _What is the story behind Kenneth's death? Ali's disappearance?_

 _Who are the Zangrillis and what is the nature of the true DiLaurentis Family Business?_

 _What sort of 'war' is going on between the DiLaurentises and the Fitzgeralds?_

 _How does Mona fit in to all this?_


	4. Fall Break Pt 2: Rosewood

a/n: As the plot thickens in the story, I need to give some details through another person's perspective. This part of the story is crucial in defining the DiLaurentis family history and it will be told partly from Mona's perspective, with a bit of Hannily mixed in there:)

The evening at Yale had rapidly turned from cool and crisp to downright cold. Hanna shivered as she stared into the flames of the bon fire, leaning back against her girlfriend's warm body, whose arms were wrapped tightly around her waist. She loved the feel of Emily's strong arms around her body and soft breath on the back of her neck, and it helped that Emily was always warm. Their first day of fall break had been odd to say the least. She could hardly believe it hadn't even been 12 hours since the near fight on the MegaBus with the clown squad; it seemed like so much longer. As Hanna stopped shivering from the cold, she felt her girlfriend's soft lips graze the back of her neck, sending a different sort of shiver down her spine. The crowd was sparse, and nobody seemed to be paying any attention to the couple, so Hanna responded in a quiet, full-body moan which Emily took as permission to go further. Emily ground her center gently into Hanna's perfect ass as she pulled her girlfriend in closer, pulled her hair back and began sucking gently on the skin just behind Hanna's left ear. Hanna's breath quickened in response as she turned around to replace her neck with her mouth and kissed her girlfriend hard on the lips. Gently running her tongue across Emily's bottom lip caused her girlfriend to allow Hana access to her mouth. The couple were making out for about 3 minutes solid before some frat guys came up to them and started cheering cat-calls.

"Whoo, sexy ladies! Looks like you forgot to invite the sausage to your party!" some bro in a straight-billed Yankees cap yelled at them.

"Go fuck yourselves," Hanna spoke evenly as the make-out session ended abruptly. Meanwhile, Emily gave them death stares.

Now that Hanna was warmed up and Emily was cooled down, after the obnoxious "cock-blocking" she'd received, they returned to the GZX group, stopping by the keg to fill up their cups; Hanna had switched to beer since they left the house since she didn't want to lug around a box of wine with her all evening.

Toby greeted them with a toothy grin, "welcome back, ladies." He had gotten much more relaxed by his 5th beer.

"Hey Toby, good to see you again," Emily replied, while rubbing Hanna's shoulder vigorously not just to keep Hanna warm, but to warm up her own hands. "Did we miss anything?"

"Nothing major, we were just talking about Ali," Jason said, seeing his sister's friends together brought up old memories. "She's been missing for so long and the police did essentially nothing to find her. Someone spun a story about how she left town to go live with family down in Georgia because she couldn't bear to stay in Rosewood after finding our father laying dead in a pool of his own blood and a handgun next to his outstretched hand."

The details of Kenneth's death were both gruesome and varied. The papers didn't go into much detail but somehow the rumor mill churned out a few various theories about what the scene looked like and what actually happened. One story claimed Kenneth was killed, another claimed it was suicide and still a third claimed he died of a heart attack.

"I feel awful that I had to leave right after the funeral, I know my mom needed support, but I got a threatening message from someone, with a picture of my father's death scene. I'm still not entirely sure whether the picture I got was legit or photoshopped. I tried asking the Rosewood PD, but they couldn't say. Then Ali went missing, no one really looked they just spun a story about Ali being so traumatized she had to go live with family outside of Atlanta. I tried to talk to my mom but she was inconsolable until she was admitted to Radley, and then she wasn't allowed phone calls or visitors for the first 36 hours, or ever, because she jumped off roof before the holding time was up." Jason appeared bitterly angry.

"Remember Spencer telling you about the DiLaurentis family in New York City? Well it turns out the guy behind the OMT alpha class is my cousin Salvatore, Sully, DiLaurentis-"

"But why didn't your uncle and cousin go to the funeral?" Hanna interjected.

"I was getting to that. My uncle Mickey, dad's older brother, wanted to attend the funeral but didn't think it was safe for his family. He forbade dad's younger sister Kristine Zangrilli, and her family from going to the funeral also. Uncle Mic didn't tell me why it wasn't safe, just told me to trust him," Jason replied before being interrupted by Emily this time.

"Isn't Mona's roommate Carmen a Zangrilli? Which would make Emma a Zangrilli also? Are Emma and Carmen your cousins too, Jason?" Emily's head hurt trying to piece the information together coherently through the fog of alcohol in her head.

Jason took a deep breath. "Yes. Emma and Carmen have DiLaurentis blood, but their father, Nico, is Greek Orthodox. Our grandfather Alfredo did not approve of Aunt Kristine marrying a non-Catholic, but Nico promised their kids would be raised Catholic, so Alfredo begrudgingly accepted him into the family business as a soldier, but that's a long story for another day."

"Soldier? What the hell is the family business? I thought it was real estate," Hanna was beginning to piece together a messy picture and suspect the "family business" was nothing more than a racket. "Was your grandfather in the mafia?"

Melissa jumped in before Jason could reply. "Jason is exaggerating. His uncle Nico was a loan officer. He helped people get money to buy property, and held the land as collateral. Completely legitimate."

Hanna just gave a look of understanding while nodding her head in disbelief. Sweet, innocent Spencer may have gotten herself in over her head with GZX.

* * *

As soon as her last class finished on the Wednesday before fall break, Mona picked up her travel bag from her dorm room and got into the car with her mother to drive back to Rosewood for the weekend. Mona was expecting her father to be in the car with her mother, but no such luck.

"Where's dad?" Mona asked casually as she slid into the passenger seat and kissed her mother on her cheek, trying to hide her disappointment.

"Oh, he had something come up at work. The department head called some sort of emergency staff meeting your father couldn't miss," Loretta Vanderwaal explained. "He's going to meet us at the Grille for dinner to celebrate your birthday." Mona's father, Neil, seemed to always have department meetings pop up at convenient times.

The three hour car ride went smoothly. Mona's mother stressed that she needed to have everything ready to go before she got out of class at 3:15 pm, as Lori did not want to get stuck in traffic, and thankfully Mona complied. Mona talked in great depth about her classes and considering changing her path to pursuit law rather than business management. "Managing businesses is just a superficial challenge, and doesn't require any real talent. I think my Intro to Business Ethics teacher is stoned most days when he teaches. Understanding and applying laws is more of a challenge." Mona spoke proudly, never one to turn away from a challenge.

* * *

Mona and her mother arrived at the Grille just on time for their 6:30 reservation and were barely sitting at their table for 2 minutes before Neil Vanderwaal walked into the restaurant wearing his favorite corduroy blazer – the one with the greenish elbow pads. Despite the plethora of suspiciously convenient short-notice meetings over the years, Mona's father had never missed a single one of Mona's birthdays; he loved his daughter dearly and was incredibly proud of her intelligence and accomplishments. Mona stood up excitedly to hug her father, whom she hadn't seen or spoken to since she left for school. Neil had an odd superstition that prevented him from speaking on the phone, he was afraid of being recorded, which apparently was a concern his former boss held. Mona wasn't exactly sure what her father used to do, before he was a mathematics professor at Hollis, but it was some kind of research. Her father was from The Netherlands and her mother from Peekskill, NY and they met when Neil accepted a research position at Yale, where her mother was an undergraduate. After they married they moved to Rosewood where her father took a position at Hollis.

Their meal went well. Despite living in NYC, no one, not even in Little Italy, could hold a candle to the linguini with clam sauce at the Rosewood Grille. "You just don't know where to look yet, princess," Neil suggested with a wink.

After dinner they went home and Neil poured himself a scotch before offering the bottle to Mona. Mona poured herself a short drink and followed Neil into his study. "So tell me all about college," he said. Mona got the feeling that deep down her parents wanted her to go to Yale, but she preferred NYU and they decided to let her make her own mistakes.

"Well, the city is huge and my semester is crazy. It's an eye-opening transition to college life from high school for sure, especially moving from a small town to a big city," she began. "Thankfully I have Caleb nearby and we can hang out on the weekends." Then after a short pause, "I'm really happy to be back home now though, I've missed it here, especially you." Mona smiled as she observed the high school graduation picture of her with her father that was displayed proudly on his desk. She was a daddy's girl, through and through.

"I've missed you too honey. It seems like just yesterday you were in here crawling around, distracting me from my work. Things are a bit too quiet in this house these days," Neil smiled at his daughter. "How's your roommate? I remember roommates always presenting some sort of problems, no matter how much you like each other. Hell, your mother and I have been roommates for 20 years and we still get on each other's nerves," Neil said, chuckling with amusement. Now it was Lori walking into his study to distract him whenever she got lonely.

"Oh, uhm, my roommate is okay. She's actually from NYC, and so quite standoffish. She did something to piss off the female RA within the first week of classes so we're always on her radar and getting reprimanded for dumb stuff like having music too loud, when the girls across the hall are causing the building to shake from how heavy their bass is," Mona said with annoyance as the scotch warmed her lips and throat.

"Do these girls have names," her father asked, his scotchy sarcasm beginning to blossom.

"Oh, uhm, yeah. My roommate is Carmen Zangrilli and the bitchy RA is Kelly something, O'Tool, O'Rourke, some Irish chick," Mona spoke off-handedly through a hoarse throat was growing numb from the alcohol of the scotch. She was staring into the fireplace and missed the incredulous look on her father's face at the mention of those names.

"Well honey, I wouldn't get too caught up in the petty rivals of your roommate and RA. There're too many other important things to focus on right now," Neil said. They sat in silence for a moment then began reminiscing on Mona's childhood, her boundless energy and questions, constantly peeking in to Neil's study after she was supposed to be in bed. As the night wore on and the bottle of scotch slowly disappeared, Neil became more candid about his past than ever.

* * *

 _Neil grew up in the Netherlands and after obtaining a bachelor's degree in mathematics he pursued his doctorate at the University of Moscow. With the political tensions as they were, his parents were not happy about his decision to pursue his PhD in the heart of the USSR, but the package deal – unbelievable stipend, gorgeous housing and the brightest mathematicians ever – was too much to turn down. After 6 years of study, upon completion of his degree, Neil had a chance meeting with a high-profile researcher at Yale, Alfredo DiLaurentis. Fredo offered Neil a position at Yale, 25% teaching, 75% research, and a quarter of a million dollars a year. Again, Neil walked into a deal he could not turn down despite the potential conflict of interest with his work in Moscow. Alfredo ensured Neil protection for his loyalty, and even introduced him to his future wife a bright student of his, Loretta. Neil remained in contact with his PI from Moscow, as Alfredo encouraged, but only superficially so as to have an ear to the opposition. It was a dangerous position, but Neil whole-heartedly put his trust in his Sicilian mentor at Yale._

 _Their research was conducted at a special facility in Duchess County, NY, not too far from New Haven, very under the radar. The research proposals were written to indicate their work was for urban development, controlled demolitions with zero negative impact on the people, animals, or air quality of the surrounding area. Those close to the DiLaurentis patriarch understood that Alfredo's research project was ultimately in preparation for the potential escalation of the cold war to nuclear war, in addition to being an excellent approach to laundering money. Neil was a key figure in the project, with his mathematical genius and skillful modeling of explosion kinetics as well as an ear behind Soviet enemy lines._

 _The research went well, and Neil was taken in as a close family associate. He attended Sunday Dinners prepared by Alfredo's wife Cecelia and his daughter Kristine Zangrilli, and daughters-in-law, Kenneth's wife Jessica DiLaurentis and Michael's wife Silvia DiLaurentis. After a few months of dating Lori, Neil began to bring her along to Sunday dinners and the DiLaurentis family welcomed her with open arms. Life was good for Neil._

 _Then one day he arrived at the research facility a few minutes late to find one of the newest explosive devices detonated and Alfredo DiLaurentis suffering nearly-fatal chemical burns. Without thinking, Neil rushed to the laboratory storage area and retrieved a chemical-burn extinguisher – something like a low-flow fire extinguisher, but filled with saline and menthol to dilute the dangerous chemicals and soothe the skin rather than flame retardant. The bomb that exploded must've been the one filled with nitric acid. As soon as Neil doused the chemicals from Alfredo's skin, he cut of his mentor's clothing, covered him in a clean sheet and rushed to the nearby trauma center. On his way, Neil called Alfredo's son and number two man, Kenneth to fill him in on the situation._

 _"Shit, we were afraid something like this would happen. God damn Fitzgeralds are behind this, so you need to watch your back. I'll pick up Mike and we'll be there in about 20 minutes," Kenneth spoke softly and pleasantly in order to avoid alerting his wife of the problem._

 _When they arrived in the emergency area of the trauma center, Kenneth and Michael were waiting along side the ER doctor with a stretcher and oxygen mask. As he was transferred from the back of the car to the stretcher, Alfredo leaned in to Neil and spoke painfully. "It was Declan," he whispered softly, then "I need air," he addressed the ER doctor._

 _Alfredo was brought swiftly to the burn center, where his condition stabilized. Though no one would be able to get in to see him any time soon, Michael thought it best to stay in the waiting room watching his father's door to make sure whoever tried to expire him did not return to finish the job._

 _"I need to head back to the facility to save whatever data we have left. There's years of work stored in that facility," Neil said shaking his head. "If only I hadn't been late this morning, none of this would've happened."_

 _"There's no way you're going back to that facility. The explosion was meant to knock you off as well," Kenneth shot back. "You need to lay low for a while. Go home, pack a bag, and tell Lori you have a conference to attend, then meet me at my father's house."_

 _If Neil was scared seeing Alfredo burning, he was shitting his pants now. He was under the impression the work was top secret US government work, not top secret mob-war work. Neil was greeted by his wife at the door, who informed him he had company waiting. She said it was somebody from the college who wanted to talk about his research, and that she was preparing tea and sandwiches for them. Neil walked into his sitting room, and a tall figure with pale skin and reddish-brown hair stood up and offered his hand._

 _"Declan Fitzgerald," he said with a stern no-nonsense face. "Pleased to finally meet you, Neil. I've heard wonderful things about your work."_

 _"_ **It was Declan** _."_

 _"Neil Vanderwaal," Neil said unnecessarily. "What can I do for you?" Neil knew he was dealing with a dangerous guy._

 _Just then Lori brought in the tea with petite sandwiches, and Neil noticed Declan's demeanor transform immediately to warm and thankful._

 _"Thank you so much, sweetheart," Declan said with a barely noticeable hint of arrogance. "Those look delicious."_

 _Lori smiled meekly, "you're welcome. Enjoy," before glancing nervously towards Neil and exiting the room._

 _"I heard of the unfortunate explosion at your research facility, and offer my condolences on the misfortune of Alfredo. Once upon a time Alfredo and I were close," Declan said wistfully, shaking his head. "You better sit down for this. I have disturbing information that you are being framed for attempted murder. Someone in the DiLaurentis family has taken out a hit on you. "_

 _Neil's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Th-that certainly is disturbing," Neil said slowly. He needed to get in contact with Kenneth immediately, but that was not an option at the current moment. "I can't imagine who in the Family would ever believe I would want to get rid of my m-mentor," Neil was growing exponentially more nervous._

 _"Neil, honey," his wife called from the kitchen. "I hate to interrupt your meeting but I have an investigator on the line that needs a word with you immediately."_

 _"I sh-should p-probably take th-that," Neil stuttered._

 _"Of course," Declan said with a concerned look. "But don't say anything that could put you in danger. Avoid specifics, they'll try to use your words against you. In light of the information I learned of, I came to offer you Fitzgerald protection, and all I ask in return is for your loyalty. The DiLaurentises have undermined a wonderful man with unlimited potential, but I can assure you the Fitzgeralds will take care of you. Take however much time you need to decide, but the sooner the better."_

 _"Th-thank you," Neil replied. "Let me talk to this investigator and I will get back to you."_

 _"Of course," Declan said gently, attempting to put a very nervous Neil at ease._

 _Neil walked slowly out of the room and took the phone from his wife's hand. "Hello?"_

 _"Neil, it's Kenneth. I've got a soldier across the street from your house who informed me Declan Fitzgerald is there. "_

 _"Uhm, yeah, and he's told me someone in the DiLaurentis Family thinks I set up the explosion and that there's been a prize placed on my head," Neil whispered quickly. "He's offered me Fitzgerald protection in return for 'loyalty.' What do I do?" Neil trusted Kenneth with his life and knew no one in the DiLaurentis family would take out a hit on him._

 _"Ok, Neil," Kenneth began. "This happened a lot sooner than I anticipated, but I want you to take up Declan on his offer for protection. One of our soldiers, half mic, half guinea, is on the Fitzgerald payroll as well. We'll have to communicate through him. Declan will have your phones tapped and check you for wires before each meeting. We only need enough information to determine what their next move is, then you and your wife will be completely taken care of. You can move to a new location, assume new identities, and live your life without fear for your life or need for money. Do you think you can handle this?"_

 _Neil exhaled slowly and sat in the chair his wife brought to him, just before his knees buckled underneath him. "Ok, I'll do it. Just tell me what to say to Declan – he's still in the living room."_

 _"Great, here's how you'll handle the situation," Kenneth replied. "Go back and accept his offer. Tell him you just spoke to Investigator Griswold who laid out the 'facts' against you, and the situation is more dire than you could have imagined." Say "If you can protect me and my wife, I will give you my full loyalty. I've been completely undermined by the DiLaurentis Family, who made me believe I was working on top secret government projects, not weapons for mob activity," Kenneth advised. "I'll have our solider in the Fitzgerald mob get in touch with you, but for now, do not reach out to any DiLaurentis."_

 _Neil took a deep breath. He had no idea what he was getting himself into when he accepted the research position with Alfredo those few years ago. Neil returned to the sitting room to find Declan texting furiously. Declan looked up at Neil and smiled. "How'd it go?"_

 _"Not good," Neil began. "They have more made up facts about me than Dr. Seuss has made up words. I've seen how corrupt the police force is, most of them are on the DiLaurentis payroll and I can't risk my and my wife's lives over this. I will give you my full loyalty if you can promise to protect my wife and I." As an after thought, Neil feigned shock, "It's almost impossible to believe how the DiLaurentis family used me."_

 _"Great," Declan said, standing up from the couch, and offering his hand to Neil once again. "I'll go back to my headquarters and bring my team up to speed on the situation. Meet us tomorrow morning at 6 am, at the bagel shop on 5_ _th_ _avenue."_

 _Neil shook Declan's hand firmly, appreciatively. "Of course, and thank you."_

* * *

"Holy shit, dad! Is that true?!" Mona exclaimed. The story was outrageous but it seemed to fill in the gaps of her family history. "What happened next? Does it have anything to do with why I was homeschooled and why I could not get involved with Alison? What about my roommate Carmen Zangrilli? Is she one of your mentor's granddaughters too?"

"Oh honey, it's late and we both need to get some sleep," Neil said. "But in short, my involvement with the DiLaurentis and Fitzgerald families is the main reason I advised you to keep your distance from the snot-nosed DiLaurentis girl, and you need to be careful with your roommate as well. Use discretion with whom you share the information I just revealed, I'd prefer you keep it a secret but it sounds like tensions are rising with DiLaurentis blood in the "Fitzgerald University," also known as NYU. I'll put you in touch with Fredo's son Michael tomorrow when we drive back into the city."

Neil retired to his bed and Mona just sat on the couch, reeling from the scotch as well as the information she just learned of. Immediately she began texting Caleb. _You will not believe the story my dad just told me; we're driving me back into the city tomorrow, want to meet us there?_

Caleb replied, _Uhm, sure. My mom is not too keen on having me back home for any extended period of time. I was able to get our IDs printed out, so we can try them out tomorrow night._

On Saturday morning Mona woke, surprisingly without a hangover, to the smell of sausage, eggs, and coffee. She trotted down the stairs to find her father standing over the stove cooking omelets while her mother flipped through the newspaper.

"Your father tells me he planned a special Father-Daughter trip into the city this afternoon?" Lori asked passively, probably wondering why she hadn't heard anything about it in the weeks leading up to their daughter's visit home. She learned long ago not to question Neil's eccentricities.

"Yeah, he wants to introduce me to his old friends and show me where to get _real_ Italian food," Mona replied. "I'm pretty excited about it," she said almost sarcastically. Mona was a real bear before coffee in the morning, and she was not looking forward to another 3-hour drive.

"It'll be a blast," Neil said behind a fake smile as he put a plate of bacon, eggs and toast in front of Mona. "Happy Birthday breakfast!" Neil was thrilled to see his daughter after almost three months but now fearful of her safety considering the powder keg of a dorm she lived in – with the Irish Fitzgerald-descendent RA and the DiLaurentis-Zangrilli girl who was living in the same room as Mona. If Kelly and Carmen were already at odds, and it was only a matter of time before each figured out the other.

So this was an intense chapter, and hopefully not too hard to follow. In the next chapter we will return to NYC, and conclude the fall semester break. By the end, all the players should know something about the mafia ties between Rosewood and NYC as well as between NYU and Yale. We might even get a glimpse of Ms. Alison DiLaurentis herself. Please let me know what you think!


	5. Fall Break Pt 3: Don DiLaurentis

After packing her weekend luggage back into the Vanderwaal's car, Mona takes the seat next to her father.

"Sorry this was such a short trip, sweetheart, but there are important issues to deal with in the City. Maybe your friends can catch a train to meet up with you tomorrow?" Neil offered.

"It's OK, Aria went to visit Paige at Stanford for the weekend, and Caleb's heading back to the City as well so there's no one in Rosewood I was looking forward to seeing other than you and mom," Mona replied. She wished her mom was joining them, but Lori had come up with some big important thing she had to deal with. To be honest, she had grown a bit nervous of the Family after the suspicious death of Kenneth DiLaurentis.

"Well, I'm glad Aria and Paige get to spend some time together, I'll bet the distance is a strain on their relationship. Speaking of Aria, I ran into Ella Montgomery the other day," Neil said. "Do you remember that new English teacher Mr. Fitz?"

"Yeah, I remember him but never actually had him as a teacher," Mona replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Well apparently he resigned after credible rumors spread about him dating a student," Neil said leadingly.

"I didn't hear that but the guy _was_ kind of shady, so it doesn't surprise me," Mona said. "What's he doing now?"

"Byron got him a job teaching at Hollis. Part of his tenure package requires publications, and when he's not actively teaching he keeps very odd hours," Neil explained. "Sometimes he doesn't come in until after lunch but then stays until the middle of the night, or sometimes he's there feverishly working at 6 am but leaves before 3 pm. Ella said he's a real odd dude."

"He sounds like an _odd dude_ ," Mona replied as Neil quickly changed the subject.

"How's Caleb doing with his new job? Do you two spend much time together?" Neil continued questioning his daughter. Though she had dated Aria's younger brother briefly, and she could hide her feelings well, certainly a trait she picked up from Neil, he knew his daughter had grown lonely as her two best friends explored their romantic feelings towards each other.

"Caleb's good. We usually get together a few times a week, mostly on the weekend," Mona replied, knowing exactly where her father was headed. "We're still just friends, but you will be the first to know if something more serious develops." Mona looked out the window as she rolled her eyes. Honestly, after dating Mike she hadn't felt a need to be in a serious relationship as it detracted from her from her goals. Mona preferred to be defined by what she did rather than by whom she was dating. Having an important career was priority numero uno for Mona.

* * *

Mona and her father arrive at Michael & Silvia DiLaurentises' for dinner. Michael opened the door to greet his guests.

"Comrade Vanderwaal, so good to see you!" Michael exclaimed, referencing Neil's Moscow association with a strong handshake.

"The pleasure is all mine, Don DiLaurentis," Neil replied, respectfully bowing his head.

Then Michael turned to Neil's daughter, "Mona, I haven't seen you since you were baptized! Your beauty is stunning – a spitting image of Lori. Come in, Silvia is in the kitchen with Emma and Carmella and I was just about to pour some anisette in the study." The aroma of freshly-baked bread, garlic and basil originating from the kitchen permeated through the house.

Neil shuffled Mona inside and introduced her to two of Michael's kids, Salvatore and Little Michael.

"Pleased to meet you, call me Sully," the older, taller and obviously more attractive of the two men said with a wink as he kissed the back of Mona's hand.

"You can call me Mikey," the younger guy said as he awkwardly mimicked his older brother in kissing Mona's hand. "Little Michael" was a college graduate, working for his father, and hated being introduced like a child.

"My youngest, David, is a junior at Yale and couldn't make it this weekend," Don Michael explained. "Some sort of big Greek Fest/Alumni return. He's the current Vice President of his fraternity, Omicron Mu Tau, and had to stay and help keep order within the chaos that ensues when alumni return to campus in large groups. Come into the kitchen and let me introduce you to my wife and nieces."

With that, the Don guided Mona to the kitchen, and she stared like a deer in the headlights when she saw her roommate Carmen. The awkwardness was palpable.

"Mona? What the hell are you doing here?" Carmen gasped as she spit half a mouthful of red wine down her shirt.

"Uhm, my dad is apparently good friends with your Uncle, he used to work with your grandfather," Mona mumbled as Silvia came and pulled her in for a big hug and kiss on the cheeks.

"Hello dear, it's so nice to have you here," Silvia spoke cheerfully. "How lucky you have already met Carmella." Then pointing to the other girl in the kitchen, "this is my other niece Emma. Come sit at the table and have a glass of wine with us while we wait for the lasagna to finish."

* * *

Comrade Vanderwaal and the DiLaurentis men retired to the Don's study. It was a dimly lit room, book shelves lining the east and west walls, with a large mahogany desk centered between the walls. Don Michael sat at the desk and motioned for Neil, Sully and Mikey to take 3 of the chairs in the more open space of the study.

After pouring the anisette, Don Michael turned to his comrade and asked, "What are we going to do about the situation at NYU? I've done my best to hide all evidence of the war with the Fitzgeralds from my Carmella, but I think she's piecing stuff together. After Nico kicked Emma out all those years ago, Carmella began to distrust her father, especially when he cut her and my sister Kristine off from the rest of the Family. Then Nico suspiciously died three years after kicking his oldest daughter out, at the time Carmella just started high school, and our little sleuth knew he had to be involved in some shady business."

"After Mona told me about her roommate and the R.A.s in their dormitory, I knew I had to tell her the story of _my_ history with the older generations of the DiLaurentises and the Fitzgeralds. I couldn't bring myself to tell her of my involvement with Declan's expiration though," Neil replied. "Despite not keeping up-to-date with the goings-on around here, I've known something was up after Kenneth's suspicious death and Alison's disappearance. I am sure those two events are related, even more so when your family did not attend the funeral." Neil took a gulp of his anisette and brought his head down to his palms, "the last thing we all need is another war."

* * *

Back in the kitchen, after Silvia had poured Mona a glass of chianti, Carmen smiled timidly at Mona. "Sorry for my reaction when I saw you. It's been a very tense morning here, after I arrived late last evening to visit with my aunt and uncle. Then my sister arrived just a few hours ago so I knew something was going on." Then turning to face her aunt, "What exactly _is_ going on, Aunt Silvia? What could be so important that my sister return from Yale this morning after leaving yesterday? And why is my roommate here?"

"Well girls, it's a long story," Silvia began. "Let's start with the night your father kicked Emma out and cut you and your mom off from the rest of the Family."

Mona could see fury rise from Emma's shoulders as her eyes shot daggers into the table.

"Ezra Fitzgerald," Emma began. "Beautiful and charming, he was the object of my desire for over a year. Then somehow he picked me to take to his senior prom. I told my mom all about it, we bought the most beautiful dress, but when Ezra came to pick me up, my father freaked out, told me not to go. I was head-over-heels for the guy so I went anyway."

"Right after she left," Silvia continued, "my husband's brother-in-law Nico called asking permission to expire Ezra. Michael said no, that Nico would disappear if he pulled such a stunt during peace-time, and so Nico hung up furiously. We were not at all surprised when Emma showed up on our door step later that evening, with bruises forming on her shoulder and cheek from Nico's blows. Emma came in and lived with us as our own daughter."

"So what happened to Carmen after Emma was kicked out?" Mona asked, mind reeling from the recent information about a deep family history she had never known anything about.

"After Emma left, Nico was sure she came to our house," Silvia spoke. "Nico had a volatile temperament, which was why my father-in-law Alfredo never trusted him. He forbade his wife and remaining daughter from speaking to our Family."

"Then the arrogant sonofabitch started working with the Fitzgeralds and got himself killed 3 years after kicking me out," Emma spit venomously. "My poor sister was just beginning high school, and our mother was too embarrassed to ask Uncle Michael for help so in order to assuage his guilt at leaving Kristine a widow, Don Patrick Fitzgerald set up an anonymous trust fund for Carmen so she could go to college, as long as my mother didn't speak a word of it to anyone."

"Wow, this is mind-boggling," Mona replied in a stunned whisper. The story just keeps getting deeper and deeper. "You mentioned an Ezra Fitzgerald, Emma," Mona began. "Do you know what happened to him after that prom?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Who the fuck knows, I think he went to some college in Bumblefuck, PA, but I completely lost touch with him a few days after the prom."

"Well I had an English teacher by the name of Mr. Fitz, and I think his first name was Ezra," Mona said carefully. "He taught for a few years, but I had my friend's mother Mrs. Montgomery for English my last three years of high school. I think he got fired based on rumors of him dating a student."

"Does your old high school teacher look anything like our arrogant RA Wesley Fitzgerald?" a stunned Carmen asked with a dark realization.

"Oh my god," Mona exclaimed, "yes, he does. Maybe Fitzgerald was shortened to Fitz." Then

"what a coincidence he ended up in the same town as Kenneth DiLaurentis and my father," she added sarcastically.

* * *

After dinner, during which absolutely no Family business was to be discussed, the group sat around the table enjoying espresso and cannolis and the conversation topic steered towards the situation at NYU...

...Sorry no Alison spotting yet, but that is coming soon...

 **a/n So what started out as an attempt for me to write a fluffy story focusing on Hanna and Emily turned into an epic conspiracy about the history of Rosewood. If you are still reading, thank you! I had intended for this to be the final chapter of fall break, but it was growing too cumbersome. I have one more portion of the fall break, after which I will post a summary of the Family business and then hopefully get back on track with the Hannily focus. But I also want to explore other 'ships that don't involve such a mind-boggling backstory.**

 **For first multi-chapter fanfic I ever posted, I was viciously attacked by a "guest " user because of how I portrayed Hanna (who was a minor character) and nothing I did to change my writing style could appease the nameless/faceless antagonist. I have since erased that story and another "rough draft" one-shot and put an obscene amount of time coming up with a complete backstory for the town of Rosewood, which I could base other stories off of. Honestly it's become almost too overwhelming and I'm not sure whether I should continue with this story, every step of which is a challenge, or just write whimsical stories for fun. Maybe a mix of both? Any input you offer would be greatly appreciated, and if you disapprove please use constructive criticism rather than attacking me or my story. Thank you so much for reading!**


	6. Fall Break Pt 4: The Club

Mona and her father sat side-by-side at the large table in the house of Don Michael DiLaurentis, enjoying cannolis and espresso after the lovely meal prepared by Silvia DiLaurentis and her Zangrilli nieces, Emma and Carmella.

As Silvia busied herself in the kitchen, out of earshot, the Don brought up the situation at NYU. "We should've known better than to allow Carmella and Mona to attend the Fitzgerald University," he said to Neil with air quotes, referencing the Fitzgeralds' grasp on NYU's puppet strings.

"Well, we were trying to keep them out of the dark end of Family business and filling them in on why NYU was a bad choice would have only prolonged the problem," Neil replied. "At some point the girls need to make their own decisions, and there has always been an unspoken rule to leave women and children out of the cross-hairs. I was disappointed Mona chose NYU over Yale, but didn't think I had any reason to be concerned for her safety."

"Ah yes, but when have the Fitzgeralds been keen to follow basic human decency?" Don Michael asked rhetorically, underscoring the true nature of the business behind the Fitzgerald Theater racket. "Besides after my brother-in-law was killed, my sister turned to Patrick Fitzgerald instead of me for help, which makes me think our Carmella has been a pawn. Patrick set up and _anonymous_ college fund, which she received through NYU. Those fuckin' micks have been planning something for a long time, but that's the nature of our business," the Don shrugged. He was getting too old for this shit.

"If I may speak freely, Uncle Michael," Emma began, the Don nodded. "We've put together a theory and possible suspect in the expiration of Uncle Kenneth, and disappearance of Alison."

The Don raised his eyebrows. "Go on."

"Remember the night I showed up on your doorstep after my father kicked me out? The night I went out with Ezra Fitzgerald?" Emma asked, before plowing ahead. "Well as soon as he graduated we lost touch. Then I think he went to college in PA, and Comrade's daughter had an Ezra _Fitz_ teaching English in her high school, about a year after Uncle Kenneth's surprise death."

"Wait a minute," Sully interrupted. "You think Uncle Ken was knocked off by Ezra Fitzgerald?" Sully and Ezra were about the same age and fierce rivals on the basketball court.

"Could've been. Why the hell else would he have chosen to go to school and work in the middle of Nowhere, PA, other than he had managed to track down the Kenneth and our Comrade?" Emma replied.

"And how does the disappearance of my niece Alison fit into this Fitzgerald theory?" the Don asked, stone-faced.

"It's possible Ezra kidnapped Alison because she saw the murder, or some other ulterior motive. Mona told us Fitzgerald got fired from teaching high school due to rumors of him dating a student. Maybe he has a thing for young girls – the Fitzgeralds still have that theater racket going on, right? Our cousin was probably worth a pretty penny," Carmen joined into the conversation.

"How do you know all this, Carmella?" Don Michael questioned.

"Well, after my dad kicked my sister out for dating Ezra, then cut us off from the rest of the Family, I knew something was suspicious. My dad was real mysterious about what his job entailed, and how he always had plenty of cash. Then one day he died mysteriously, and I personally think it was at the hands of a client he had screwed over one too many times," Carmen responded. "I did some digging and after my father's death I was finally able to speak to my sister and she helped me fill in some of the gaps."

"Ok, so I can see how Kenneth was snuffed out by Ezra, in retaliation of his grandfather Declan Fitzgerald's death, and even kidnapping Alison to turn a profit, but what sort of proof do you have?" the Don questioned further.

"None yet," Emma replied, "but we think we know where to look. Would you mind the kids having a night on the town?" Emma had to turn on her full charm, sensing how nervous the Don had become over the course of the conversation, but also knowing her Uncle Michael was wrapped around her finger considering he had no daughters of his own.

After some persuasion, The Don and Comrade agreed to let the kids out for the evening. Of course as soon as they left the Don called his semi-retired consigliere to have him send somebody after the kids, discretely of course, as they might stumble into some dangerous territory.

* * *

The first order of business after finally convincing the Don to let the kids out for the night was to meet up with Caleb to get Mona's fake ID, as Carmen already had one and the others were all legally old enough to go to bars. Sully was 24, Emma 23, Mikey 22 and Carmen had turned 19 two short months before Mona. The group hailed an Uber to take them from the East Village up to 58th St, to Lavo, an Italian Restaurant with a nightclub upstairs, a safe place to meet Caleb. From there Carmen suggested Avenue night club, 48 blocks south. Avenue nightclub was much closer to NYU and she had overheard Wes and Kelly talk about it during dorm meetings.

Mona and the Italians got to Lavo just as Caleb was walking down the street. Introductions were made, and Caleb was granted a seal of approval by the DiLaurentis men.

"Hey, Mona, you know that RA Kelly you're always bitching about? I think I passed her on the subway – she was going downtown while I headed uptown. She was with a couple guys, one who looked identical to our high school English teacher, and some girl with short strawberry-blond hair," Caleb spoke conversationally as Sully and Mikey inspected their newly-printed fake ID cards.

All of a sudden everyone's eyes were on Caleb. "What?"

"You thought you saw Kelly with Fitz?!" Mona was the first to come up with a reply. Then, turning to Carmen, "How the fuck does Kelly fit in with this?"

"Kelly and Wes are cousins, I thought you knew that?" Carmen responded. "And Wes is apparently your teacher's younger brother?"

"Whoa everybody, what's the big deal about this bitch Kelly? She sounds an awful lot like a girl Mona & I went to middle school with," Caleb replied.

Sully took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he returned the fake IDs to Mona and Caleb. "These are stellar, you'll have no problem anywhere. Let's take the mutt into Lavo for some anisette and fill him in on the Fitzgerald issue."

"Hold up," Mikey yelled as he put his hand up. "We need to frisk him first. We've only just met Mona today, and I'm a bit wary of the Don's "Comrade." We need to be careful about who we trust these days. This guy's probably part mick."

"Calm down Mikey," Sully said. "There's no need to get belligerent," and then turned to Caleb, "sorry but my brother's right. Put your arms out." Sully proceeded to frisk Caleb discreetly so as to not draw attention from passersby. "He's clean," he replied to his younger brother with a slight air of annoyance. Little Mikey certainly had Little Big Man syndrome.

"Who the fuck are these people, Mona?" Caleb asked, visibly annoyed at the intrusion and accusations.

"They're friends of the family, Caleb," Mona assured him. "Now let's go inside, there's a lot to explain."

* * *

An hour and a healthy dose of Cognac later, Caleb stared at Mona in bewilderment. "How the hell did you not know about your dad's involvement with the DiLaurentises?"

"My dad was very secretive about his past," Mona replied, and then thoughtfully said "though maybe _paranoid_ is be a better word. At least now his paranoia makes a bit of sense."

As the oldest in the group, the acting Don so to speak, Sully took over from here. "We're going to take the subway back downtown and check out Avenue Nightclub." Carmen had heard about Kelly's extravagant nights out at "The Ave," and the group decided that was the best place to start. When they arrived half an hour later there was a line halfway down the block, but with Sully in the lead they were able to skip it.

"I know some people," Sully boasted with a smug grin.

They decided to split up into smaller groups to be less obvious. Sully, Mikey and Caleb when to the far left side of the bar to sip cognac and look pretentious while Emma, Carmen and Mona walked towards the middle of the dance floor after getting girly-looking drinks to fit in with the crowd.

After half an hour or so of bumping and grinding through the middle of the dance floor, the girls had no luck spotting any of the party they came chasing. As they finished their drinks, Emma, Carmen and Mona returned to the bar for another and to casually strike up a conversation with the mysterious guys drinking cognac at the far end of the bar.

"Three more please," Emma coyly asked the male bartender who focused more on her chest than her face. She put some cash on the bar and the bartender waved it off with a wink. "This round's on the house."

As they turned to head down towards Sully, Mikey and Caleb, Carmen was drenched with a glass of vodka tonic as a stumbling blond tripped over her own feet.

"What the fuck, bitch?" Carmen growled confrontationally.

"Easy, Carmella, we're not here to make a scene," her sister whispered as she noticed a freckly-faced red-head shoot eye daggers towards Carmen and Mona, from behind the clumsy bitch with strawberry-blond hair. Mona recognized their RA Kelly and grabbed her roommate's arm and led her away quickly.

"What made you decide to join in a wet tee-shirt contest Carmella?" Sully chuckled when the girls arrived to meet up with their comrades.

"Haha," Carmen spat, "some drunk bitch tripped and spilled her drink all over me."

" _That drunk bitch_ ," Mona said with air quotes, "was escorted by our RA Kelly. It's been about 4 years since I've seen Alison DiLaurentis, the girl's hair was a different color and her body a bit curvier but I'd recognize that ugly mug anywhere. That was Alison."

"Where did they go?" Caleb demanded.

"I didn't watch, I tried to get Carmen away quickly before that bitch Kelly recognized us," Mona said.

"That red-head was glaring holes through both of you," Emma told Mona and Carmen. "I'd say she recognized you."

"Well Fuck," Carmen replied. "What do we do now?"

"You girls are going to stay here with Mikey while Caleb and I walk casually to the other side of the dance floor," Sully began. "Caleb saw how the guys were dressed and will recognize Ezra better than I since he's seen him more recently. We're going to discretely snap some pictures then meet you back here. Once we're sure we've spotted Alison and Ezra, preferably together, and get pictures to prove it we'll meet you back at this table, then head back to the East Village to present the evidence to the Don."

a/n: Sorry there was no Hannily in this chapter but I'm trying to keep the story flowing, which requires shorter, less convoluted chapters. I'm also working on another story, The Odd Squad, which gives the history of how Mona became friends with Paige and Aria. Please let me know what you think!


	7. DiLaurentis - Fitzgerald Summary

It's been a long time since I last updated, and the story has become a bit convoluted, so here is a summary: In addition to the Godfather series, I found inspiration in cold war tensions from reading the Hunt For Red October, by Tom Clancy. I absolutely love conspiracies…but I get waaaay too caught up in backstories which sets me up for severe writers-block. I'm also working on a couple other stories – one that ties in with this one (The Odd Squad) and another one that offers a different end-game than the disappointing one on the show (How it Should've Been).

 **On the history of the DiLaurentis – Fitzgerald war**

Alfredo DiLaurentis, the original Sicilian Mafia Don, worked "legitimately" for the government doing research while his family dealt in real estate, loan sharking and gambling. The Fitzgeralds were primarily boot-leggers up until the end of prohibition. As whiskey sales became legal, the Fitzgeralds were going under. The original Don of the Fitzgerald family, part of the Irish Mob, was Declan Fitzgerald. After prohibition ended, the Fitzgeralds turned to human trafficking, behind a Theater racket. Declan bought property in NYC near the DiLaurentis territory and started the Fitzgerald Theater Company. The Families lived peacefully until Declan got greedy and started buying up more property around the DiLaurentis empire, causing a bloody turf war.

Neil Vanderwaal came into the scene when he met with Alfredo DiLaurentis, who offered him a research position and protection from the Russians. Neil defected to America after finishing his PhD in Moscow, because of his distrust of the Communist regime. Neil was wanted by the USSR because of his knowledge of their nuclear program. Alfredo saw an opportunity to pad his government bankroll with a brilliant mathematician who held top-secret Soviet information. Declan Fitzgerald caught wind of Alfredo's newest asset and set up a plan to bring down the DiLaurentis Family and take their place as the top NYC mob. Things went awry when Neil showed up to work a few minutes late on the fateful day of the explosion. Declan's biggest mistake was trying to pull a fast one on Neil, telling him the DiLaurentis Family wanted to kill him for Alfredo's murder. Neil absolutely worshipped his mentor and was so beloved by Alfredo he was practically a DiLaurentis, aside from the non-Sicilian heritage. Neil took the opportunity, on advice from Kenneth DiLaurentis, to play along with Declan's ridiculous story so that he could gain information from the Fitzgeralds. As a former Soviet "comrade," Neil was superb at double-play though his allegiance was firmly towards the DiLaurentis family.

As a mole in the Fitzgerald Family, Neil learned of their plan to take out Kenneth DiLaurentis, who was now assumed the DiLaurentis Don, despite being the younger of the two brothers. Declan's hubris led to his ultimate demise. Instead of sending a soldier to kill Kenneth, Declan wanted to do it himself. A meeting was set up under the pretense of a truce, a desire to negotiate and reframe the territory. Kenneth was set to meet with Declan early in the morning at a neutral location. Neil had informed Kenneth of Declan's plan to kill him, so they came up with a counter attack.

Early one Sunday morning Declan waited with Neil for Kenneth to arrive at a bar in Staten Island to discuss their situation. Neil sat across the table from Declan sipping a coffee in his right hand while his left hand held his hunting knife in its holster at his side. Declan wore a bullet-proof vest under his button-up Sunday best. When Kenneth walked in through the door behind Neil, Declan stood up to shake his hand and display the revolver on his left hip. Kenneth grasped Declan's hand and quickly pulled him in to reach around his waist and grab the gun from its holster. As he grabbed the gun, Kenneth stood behind Declan, and despite the Fitzgerald's girth, body-slammed him onto the table. Neil stood quickly and drove the hunting knife through the back of his neck, just under the skull. Using Declan's gun, Kenneth shot him in the head twice. The first shot killed him and the second was just a "fuck you." Quickly Neil wiped prints off the gun and hunting knife, finished his coffee and strolled out the door with Kenneth.

The car waiting outside drove Kenneth and Neil back to Cecelia DiLaurentis' (Alfredo's widow's) home. Michael DiLaurentis was waiting at the door, and ushered them in to give the good news to Cecelia. Her husband's murderer was killed by his own hubris. She tried to never get involved with the dirty side of the Family business, but the expiration of her husband's murderer was important to her. She hugged her younger son Kenneth, followed by Neil as she cried tears of joy and sorrow. This would probably be the last she saw of Kenneth and Neil. Her health was failing, there wasn't much reason to go on after the death of her husband other than to know his death had been avenged. Michael and his wife Silvia would be moving into the Family Headquarters and Michael would run the business as the next Don while Kenneth and Neil must relocate.

Kenneth and Neil move with their wives to Rosewood, PA to start their own families (lower-case family, not to be confused with Family).

Meanwhile, Patrick Fitzgerald, Declan's oldest son, tries to hold his Family's business above ground. It's months before he realizes Kenneth and Neil have left town. The war between the families settles for a little while. Patrick and his siblings vow to keep their kids out of the mess and legitimize their business by eliminating human trafficking. The Fitzgeralds invest in New York University, setting up an endowment for the theater program to train the best in the business. This works for a while, but when Don Patrick's son Ezra chooses to take Emma Zangrilli to the prom, tensions rise again

Kenneth and Michael have one sister Kristine, who married a Greek Orthodox by the name of Nico Zangrilli shortly before Alfredo's demise. Alfredo did not approve of a non-Catholic husband but went along on the promise his grandchildren would be raised Catholic. Nico and Kristine had two daughters, Emma and Carmella. When Ezra Fitzgerald arrives to escort Emma Zangrilli to their high school prom, Nico loses his mind. Kristine drags Nico into their bedroom and attempts to calm him down; Nico was ready to beat the shit out of Ezra. Once he stopped shaking, Nico called his daughter into the room and forbade her from going to the prom with the Fitzgerald kid. Emma was hopelessly infatuated with Ezra and ran out when her father refused to give an explanation as to why she couldn't go. After she returned from the prom, Nico was belligerently drunk and refused to let her into the house. With nowhere else to go, she called her aunt Silvia and asked to stay there. When she arrived at Michael and Silvia's, her uncle was sitting in his study with a glass of scotch, waiting to explain, at least somewhat, why Emma was thrown out. Though the sobbing subsided, Emma was still sniffling when Michael wrapped her in a hug, then poured her a glass of scotch.

"Your prom date's grandfather killed your grandfather," Michael spoke bluntly. Emma stared in disbelief.

"I thought my grandfather was killed in an accident in his research facility," she managed to speak quietly.

"It was supposed to look like an accident. Years ago there was a bloody war between the DiLaurentises and the Fitzgeralds. When Alfredo and Declan, Ezra's grandfather, were killed, things quieted down for a few years. Most of the family money, on both sides, had been made through racketeering – illegal business behind a legitimate front," Michael explained gently. "My brother Kenneth did not die in a car crash. He lives in a little town in Pennsylvania, the same town as my father's old research assistant, to hide from the Fitzgeralds. Both sides had decided to legitimize most, if not all, of the family businesses so as to not involve the next generation – you, your sister and cousins as well as all the Fitzgerald boys."

"So if you buried the hatchet, so to speak, why did my dad kick me out for dating Ezra?" Emma was turning angry.

"Your father has a nasty temper that controls him. The business of my father required calmly-executed plans, but your father's temper prevented him from any sort of real involvement, which he resented our Family for. Him kicking you out this evening is just an example of his tumultuous behavior that has deadly consequences," Michael spoke matter-of-factly. "After he saw tonight, after you left against his command, he called me. Nico wanted permission to take out the Fitzgerald boy and I refused. There's no need for rekindling the bloody war. I told Silvia to wait up, figuring you might need a place to stay tonight."

"I don't ever want to see my father again," Emma spat. She was not only angry, but disgusted.

"You can stay here until you finish high school next year and we'll discuss sending you to Yale. Your grandfather left a large chunk of money to the school to be held for his grandchildren. He wanted to be sure his legacy lived on, and the truth of it, not the cover-up."

* * *

After Ezra dropped Emma off after the after-prom party, he went home to find his father, Patrick, waiting in the kitchen with the lights off.

"God damn it, son! Where the hell have you been?"

"I was at the prom, then had a few drinks, and dropped off my date at home," Ezra mumbled. In his state he was far from willing to chat with his father's Irish temper. "What the hell is wrong with that?"

"Wes told me you were taking some Italian girl by the name of Zangrilli. You know damn well the Irish and Italians don't mix," Patrick spoke with an eerily calm tone. "That girl's uncle killed my father."

….And that is what set the course for the resurgence of the mob war.

 **On the current nature of the DiLaurentis – Fitzgerald war.**

The DiLaurentises deal primarily in real estate, and (both legal and illegal) gambling in upstate New York. They also own a string of casinos in Atlantic City and have long-term interest in legalizing gambling in Pennsylvania.

The Fitzgeralds deal in theater, which is a front for human trafficking. The current turf war is happening at the DiLaurentis casinos in Atlantic City where the Fitzgeralds are sneaking illegal prostitutes in, and attempting to infiltrate the DiLaurentises' classy show girls with their own. The Fitzgeralds' trafficking business is losing profitability and they are beginning to dabble in narcotics, which poses a problem for the DiLaurentis casinos.

 **The Family Trees: Number indicates generation**

1\. Alfredo DiLaurentis (Wife Cecelia)

2\. Michael (Wife Silvia)

3\. Kids: Salvatore (Sully), Michael

(Mikey), David (Davey)

2\. Kenneth (Wife Jessica)

3\. Kids: Jason, Alison

2\. Kristine (Nico Zangrilli)

3\. Kids: Emma, Carmella

1\. Declan Fitzgerald

2\. Patrick (wife Theresa)

3\. Kids: Ezra and Wesley

2\. Corrine (Connie) &Charlie O'Rourke

3\. Kid: Kelly

2\. Francis & Angela

3\. Kids: Joseph (Joey) & Thomas (Tommy)


End file.
